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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OE AMERICA 







A BRIEF INTRODUCTION 



STUDYofTHEOLOGY 



R. V. FOSTER, 

Professor in the Theological School of Cumberland University, 
Lebanon, Tenn. 




FLEMING H. REVELL, 

CHICAGO! I NEW YORK : 

148 and 150 Madison Street. I 12 Bible House, Astor Place. 

Publisher of Evangelical Literature, 



JSKnz 

■ Fj 



Copyrighted 1889 by 
R. V. FOSTER. 



PREFACE. 

THIS little book contains the substance of 
lectures which for some time I have been in the 
habit of delivering to the junior students of the 
Theological Seminary, Cumberland University. 
It seemed to me that the publication of such 
an outline treatment of the science of Theo- 
logical Encyclopedia and Methodology would 
be not only a matter of interest, but also of 
advantage, to many undergraduate ministerial 
students. It is certainly desirable that one 
should have a map, either in his mind or before 
him, when one studies geography. It is 
desirable, also, when one travels upon the high 
seas, even of theological science, that he should 
be able to know his bearings. Perhaps this 
brief outline of a great subject may serve some 
such purpose in behalf of that large and less 
advanced class of theological readers and stu- 
dents for which it is exclusively intended. Per- 
haps, also, it may serve to enliven and intensify 
the impression on the part of such readers, 



4 PRE FA CE. 

whether ministerial or lay, of the breadth, and 
depth, and dignity, of Christian Theology, con- 
sidered as a science composed of many parts. 
Perhaps, again, it may stimulate some to 
renewed effort after higher and more efficient 
attainment in Sacred Learning, or in Christian 
activity. If any one of these ends should to 
any extent be accomplished, I shall think that 
the publication of the book has been justified. 

R. V. F. 

Cumberland University, 
Lebanon, Tenn. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

I. Theological Encyclopedia ... 7 

Definition and Scope 7 

Divisions . 9 

Importance 10 

Relation Between Theology and Philosophy 13 

Other Branches 21 

Sciences 22 

Arts 35 

II. Special Theological Encyclopedia . 42 
Definitions and Divisions of Theology . 42 

III. General Scheme ...... 55 

I. Studies Preparatory to Theology . . 55 

Sciences 55 

Arts 57 

II. Exegetical and Auxiliary Studies . . 58 

Biblical Introduction 58 

Biblical Exegesis 61 

in. Christian Theology Proper ... 85 

Biblical Theology of the Old Testament . 85 

Biblical Theology of the New Testament 86 

Post-Biblical Theology 87 

Christian Theology in Its Applications 93 



6 CONTENTS. 

IV. Other Terms Employed .... 101 

Speculative Theology 101 

Mystic Theology 102 

Natural Theology, etc 103 

V. Personal Requisites to the Study of 

Theology 105 

Personal Experience 105 

Purity of Heart . . . . . . 107 

Prayful and Reverent Spirit . . . .108 

Modesty, Diligence, etc. . . . . 109 

VI. Literature in 

Appendix 139 

Biblical Theology 139 

Topics for Study 145 

Index 149 



A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE 

Study of Theology. 

I. 

THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 

Definition and Scope. 

The term " theological" is here used in its 
broadest sense. Theological Encyclopedia is 
that branch of Universal Encyclopedia which 
deals with theology in the most general sense 
of that term, and with that which immediately 
appertains thereto. It is a survey of all the 
departments of theology and related topics. It 
describes the organism of theological science, 
exhibiting the parts which make up the whole, 
and the logical connection which each part has 
with each of the others. It is to theological 
science what a map of a country, for example, 
is to the geography of that country. It deter- 



8 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY. 

mines the boundaries of each branch of the 
science, and the place of each in the general 
scheme. It inquires and determines, for in- 
stance, whether Apologetics is a part of Sys- 
tematic or of Historical Theology; whether 
Biblical Theology is to be called an exegetical 
or an historical science, or, indeed, a science 
at all. 

Theological Encyclopedia is, of course, not 
the same as a Theological Encyclopedia. The 
latter is a kind of dictionary, treating its topics 
in alphabetical order ; the former is not a dic- 
tionary, but a scientific discussion of the organ- 
ism of theological knowledge, just as botany is 
the scientific discussion of the organism of one 
or more plants. The object of a theological 
encyclopedia is the subject-matter of theologi- 
cal knowledge. An article in a theological 
encyclopedia on the atonement (e. g.) would be 
nothing more nor less than a brief treatise on 
the atonement. But the object of Theological 
Encyclopedia is not the subject-matter, but the 
organism or structure. It would deal with the 
atonement, if at all, only in so far as to deter- 
mine whether it should be treated in connec- 
tion with the doctrine of God, or man, or 
Christ ; that is, whether under the head of 
theology proper, or anthropology, or christo- 
logy, or elsewhere. 



theological encyclopedia. 9 

Divisions. 

Theological encyclopedia may be divided, or 
considered, on the basis both of its functions 
and its scope. 

In the first instance it is both propedeutical 
and complementary; its office, in the first place, 
being to stand at the threshold and introduce 
the student into the domain of theology; and, 
in the second place, to stand at the other side 
of the domain, and by a process of review jus- 
tify the method pursued in reaching it. The 
one is the science in its basal elements : the 
other is more of the nature of a completed and 
fully rounded system. 

On the basis of its scope Theological Ency- 
clopedia is both general and special. In the 
one case it deals with such questions as : The 
relations of theology to science ; its relations to 
the arts and general culture ; its relations to phi- 
losophy, ethics, psychology and logic ; the lead- 
ing tendencies of theological thought, and the 
attitude of the student of theology, or minister 
of the gospel, in regard to these tendencies. 

On the other hand, it belongs to the prov- 
ince of special theological encyclopedia to con- 
sider the several great divisions of theology, as 
Exegetical, Systematic, Historical and Practi- 
cal theology ; to enquire whether this fourfold 
division be logically justifiable ; to discuss the 



10 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY. 

correctness of any assumed analysis and no- 
menclature ; to exhibit the logical subdivisions of 
the main parts, the relation of the parts to one 
another, and the method according to which 
the science may be best developed. 

Importance. 

It is obviously true, without proof, that 
every student should endeavor at the outset to 
gain a general idea of the range of human 
knowledge before attempting the pursuit of 
any special branch. He should know some- 
thing of mathematics in general before begin- 
ning an exhaustive study of geometry. He 
should know something of Palestine in general 
before beginning an exhaustive study of Judea 
or Samaria. A bird's-eye view of the whole fa- 
cilitates the mastery of any particular branch ; 
and to have first a general knowledge of any 
particular branch facilitates the mastery of its 
details. It is equally true that every Biblical 
and theological student should endeavor at the 
outset of his work to gain a general idea of the 
range of Biblical and theological learning. In 
this way, and in this way only, may he be en- 
abled to locate himself at any time ; to deter- 
mine his latitude and longitude, so to speak, on 
the great globe of knowledge.- Herein lies one 
difference, at least, between education and mere 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 11 

information. One may have much of the lat- 
ter, and at the same time very little of the 
former. Unclassified information is not educa- 
tion ; and if I may so speak, unlabeled items 
of information, however numerous, are not of 
themselves education. It is like the differ- 
ence between a pharmaceutical shop with the 
bottles and jars and vials all classified and 
labeled, and a pharmaceutical shop with the 
bottles and jars and vials mixed in a disorder- 
ly way, and all without labels. The danger 
results from the fact that certain articles so 
closely resemble one another as to render it dif- 
ficult for the eye to distinguish the harmless 
from the poisonous. Some truths cannot be 
well understood apart from other truths, or 
apart from their relations to the whole system. 
Some truths are not even wholesome apart 
from their relations to others. No amount of 
information is entitled to be called scientific 
knowledge unless it be classified, labeled, 
known, not only in itself, but also in its rela- 
tions and bearings. No amount of information 
which one may possess can entitle him to be 
called educated unless it has been acquired 
in such manner, or to such an extent, as to 
justify us in calling it science, or knowledge 
in the strict sense. 

Let us quote the words of Schelling: "The 
recognition of the organic whole of the sciences 



12 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY. 

must precede the definite pursuit of a specialty. 
The scholar who devotes himself to a partic- 
ular study must become acquainted with the 
position it occupies with respect to this whole, 
and the particular spirit which pervades it, as 
well as the mode of development by which it 
enters into the harmonious union of the whole. 
Hence the method by which he is himself to 
estimate his science, in order that he may not 
regard it in a slavish spirit, but independently 
and in the spirit of the whole." That is to say, 
a knowledge of Theological Encyclopedia pre- 
vents us from taking a narrow, illiberal, and 
disjointed view of the branch of theological 
study which we may be pursuing, or the branch 
of church work in which we may be engaged ; 
prevents us from attaching undue importance 
to it, to the prejudice, or total neglect, of other 
branches, and exhibits to us the frame-work of 
theological science in such way as to enable us 
to see that any one branch is not in itself all, 
but is only a part of a general whole. 

A volume made up of a number of chapters, 
or essays, on theological topics may be a very 
different thing from a well constructed treatise 
on theology ; and it would certainly be far less 
satisfactory. The former could give the reader 
no idea of theology as a science made up of 
logically related parts, but the latter would ; 
and hence any mind of the least logical training 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 13 

can easily perceive that the latter would be 
more conducive to an understanding both of 
the parts in detail and of the subject as a 
whole. If, for instance, the attributes of God 
should be discussed, in one lecture or chapter, 
and the resurrection in another, and the atone- 
ment in another, and so on in such way, this of 
course would be neither logical nor satisfactory 
to an intelligent reader. And even if the chap- 
ters should be arranged in their right order, and 
yet no connection or relation between them be 
exhibited, such a work is still defective and un- 
worthy of the name of a scientific treatise. 
No question is well understood until it is un- 
derstood not only in itself but also in its 
system. Here, therefore, again appears the 
importance of the theological encyclopedia, for 
by it is determined not only the order in 
which the topics shall be treated, but also 
their relation to one another and to the whole. 
It is, to a certain extent, the logic of theolog- 
ical science. 

The Relation Between Theology 
and Philosophy. 

But theological science is so closely allied to 
philosophy that the relation between the two 
must be, at least briefly, considered here. It is 
not the province of theology to discuss ques- 



14 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

tions of relations ; it rather assumes that the 
student has settled these, at least provisionally, 
in his propedeutical course. 

Theology not only presupposes philosophy 
as a preliminary discipline, but stands related 
to it in other essential respects. If by philoso- 
phy is meant the inquiry concerning things 
from a purely rational, or naturalistic, stand- 
point, it is only itself a species of the genus 
Theology, as we shall see further on ; the 
basis of analysis, or distinction between the 
species and the genus, being in this instance 
the method, rather than the subject-matter, of 
the two sciences respectively. Philosophy in 
this sense is sometimes called Sacred Philoso- 
phy, and as thus or otherwise named has its 
proper place in the theological scheme. 

But we here use the term simply in the sense 
of Psychology and Theoretical Ethics — phi- 
losophy as denoting a science in itself, wholly 
distinct from theology, and yet which furnishes 
the rational basis of theology. Theological 
science, like the physical sciences, is inductive, 
because it deals with the facts as ready made, 
so to speak, and furnished for its purpose. It 
is not the province of any science, or of 
any part of any science, to gather its own 
facts. But in every instance the thing to 
which the facts are addressed is the human 
conscious reason. This is true whether the 



THEOLOGICAL EX C YCLOPEDIA. 15 

facts be naturally or supernaturally revealed. 
In other words, the reason is the organ, or 
medium, through which is transmitted to us 
every revelation, and without which none could 
reach us; just as the atmosphere is the 
essential medium through which is transmitted 
to the eye the sun's light. As the atmosphere 
is, so does the light appear to us, whether 
white, or red, or otherwise. Hence the human 
mind itself must be understood, or a knowledge 
of it assumed, in order that the validity of its 
interpretation of the facts may be tested. 

Suppose, for example, that one's philosophi- 
cal studies should lead him to the erroneous 
conclusion that mind is only a modification of 
matter. In that case it would be but a short 
step to the denial of the existence of all spirit, 
hence of God and the facts of human freedom 
and responsibility. Hence theology would no 
longer be possible, for its foundations would be 
destroyed. Against this form of disbelief the 
Bible, or revealed word of God, cannot be used 
as a weapon to begin with, for the fundamental 
fact that it is the revealed word of God, or 
the word of God in any sense, is denied in ad- 
vance. If the disbeliever will hear it aright, 
however, the Bible may even in this instance 
successfully plead its own cause through its 
persistent, though noiseless, impression on his 
heart. 



16 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGY. 

Suppose, on the other hand, that one's philo- 
sophical conclusion should be idealism — the 
assertion that spirit is the only reality, of 
which matter and the world are only modifica- 
tions. This, again, would be destructive of 
theology, for theology presupposes spirit and 
matter as distinct and antithetical realities, and 
a liberty which is not absolute like God's, but 
which implies dependence — liberty within 
certain restrictions. But the result of a 
deeper and truer psychological study and 
inquiry concerning the ultimate laws of 
thought justifies this fundamental postulate of 
theology. 

Suppose, again, that the philosophical con- 
clusion should affirm that spirit and matter, 
God and the world, are not only distinct and 
antithetical realities, but that the antithesis 
between them is rigid and irremediable ; that 
they are out of all relation to each other, 
the one having nothing to do with the other 
whatsoever. This is deistic epicureanism, on 
the basis of which, of course, theology can- 
not be constructed, nor any of its conclusions 
be admitted. 

Suppose, in the next place, that the essen- 
tial antithesis between matter and spirit should 
be destroyed by identifying them — God is 
the world, or the world is God. In this case 
moral freedom is a phantom, sin is a natural 



THEOLOGICAL ENCTCLOPEDIA. 17 

necessity, redemption is a fiction, and deity 
becomes a conscious God only by a process of 
evolution. This is pantheism, which is ob- 
viously destructive of Christian theology. 

Suppose, further, that the philosophical 
conclusion ' flatly denies the reality of spirit 
behind matter, and affirms that there is noth- 
ing - but matter, force and mind being in some 
way only an outgrowth of matter. This is 
bold, materialistic atheism. 

Suppose, however, that one's philosophy 
does not deny the reality of spirit behind 
matter, and as essentially distinct from mat- 
ter, but simply affirms that if spirit, as God, 
exists at all it is unknowable, all that we can 
know being matter only and the phenomena of 
matter. This is agnosticism — the denial of 
the possibility of knowing God and of a super- 
natural revelation by him to man. Each of 
the conclusions of philosophy here referred to 
has had its advocates, one or all of them being 
stoutly held at this very day. They belong to 
the domain of inquiry and investigation that is 
common alike to theology and philosophy. 
And hence when either philosophy or theology 
comes to deal with them they must have with 
each other a previous understanding, or there 
will be a difference and collision, or one or the 
other must retire from the field. But theology 
cannot retire from this field without in that 



18 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

very act destroying itself ; for Christian philo- 
sophical theism, which is the opposing con- 
clusion to the ones above mentioned, is an 
essential postulate of Christian theology. The 
religion that is based wholly on a theology des- 
titute of the philosophical element is in constant 
danger of superstition and fanaticism. If such 
a religion be well adapted to any man here or 
there, it is certainly not well adapted to all 
men. Witness, for example, the character of 
religion that prevails to a considerable extent 
among the African race in the South, and 
among ignorant Roman Catholic populations. 
The mass of mankind cannot keep in mental 
equipoise unless it be provided with a rational 
or philosophical ballast. 

But on the contrary, if philosophy becomes 
exclusive, and selfishly appropriates to itself 
the ground which is common to itself and 
theology, the result is equally disastrous. 
Philosophy has no heart, and to the heart's 
voice philosophy must listen or its own voice 
will not be heard by many. 

But all men will not assume, to begin with, 
that the Biblical revelation is reliable, and 
build their systems, in regard to the great 
fundamental questions which are common to 
theology and philosophy, on this assumption. 
It is necessary, therefore, .that the validity of 
the judgments of human reason should be 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA 19 

tested by a thorough examination of the laws 
of thought, and the rational sources of our 
knowledge. To do this belongs to philosophy 
in its own peculiar sphere, the result of the 
test being handed over to theology for its use 
as initial postulates. The existence of a per- 
sonal God, for instance, is a fundamental datum 
of theology ; without it theology has no point 
of departure, nothing to begin with. But what 
is personality? " Man cannot have even the 
idea of personality unless he has first found the 
elements of it in his own being. Therefore he 
cannot inquire respecting the personality of 
God, till by studying the constitution of man, 
he has found out that man is a person, and 
thus has ascertained what personality is and 
what is the distinction between persons and 
impersonal beings." Again, is it possible for 
the human mind to know God at all ? Is it 
possible for God to. communicate a knowledge 
of himself to man? Is it possible to know 
anything except mere phenomena? Can I 
have any knowledge of spirit, except perhaps 
so far as to say that it is not matter? Is not all 
knowledge merely relative ? Are not our phys- 
ical senses our only source of knowledge? Are 
the original data furnished us in consciousness to 
be regarded as legitimate and reliable sources 
of knowledge? Such questions as these are of 
primary importance, and the theologian must 



20 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

either answer them himself or get some philso- 
pher to answer them for him. Much depends 
upon how they are answered, and to appreciate 
properly any answer requires personal study. 
A wise man would not attempt to construct a 
theology on the basis of Locke's theory of 
knowledge. It is true that a Christian man 
knows God through his own experience of him, 
but not that experience which pertains to 
his physical senses. " All that is of highest 
worth to man in life rests on his experience of 
God's gracious presence and power in his own 
moral and spiritual development. In the 
strength of such knowledge many a Christian 
has lived a life of Christ-like love or gone to a 
martyr's stake, who never attempted to define 
or defend the articles of his belief. . . . 
Thus the knowledge of God begins, like the 
knowledge of nature and of man, in experi- 
ence."* But it cannot abide here, for as man 
advances in intellectual development, so does 
the necessity grow upon him of thinking about 
what he believes, defining and thus making it 
clearer to himself, and vindicating it to his own 
reason as reasonable belief and real knowledge. 
Thus must it ever be from generation to 
generation if Christianity is " to retain its pre- 
eminence as the light and inspiration of human 
life and the universal religion of mankind." 

* Harris: Philosophical Basis of Theism. 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 21 

But you, who are to be pastors, cannot be 
philosophers — not specialists at least. But you 
can at the outset, put yourselves into an intelli- 
gent and appreciative mental attitude toward 
philosophy. You are to be the leaders and the 
feeders of the sheep ; and while your faith and 
theirs will, in the main, be based simply on the 
Revealed Word, there will be times when it 
will behoove you to be able to furnish some- 
thing more than a mere glimpse through 
another man's glass, of the harmony which ob- 
tains between the revelation contained in the 
Written Word and the revelation contained in 
the reason and heart of man. 

Philosophy is to be understood as including 
here not only psychology and metaphysics, but 
also ethics, logic, philosophy of history, and 
history of philosophy. 

Other Branches. 
But the pastor cannot attain to the utmost 
efficiency and strength unless he also have a 
more or less extensive and thorough general 
culture. Every part of the college curriculum 
is " practical"; and even such branches as may 
seem most distinct, in a logical sense, from 
theology may have a very important prope- 
deutical relation to it. As the course in the 
School preparatory to the College is really an 
essential part of the Bachelor of Arts course, 



22 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

so is the college course in the same sense really 
a part of the theological curriculum. Other 
things being equal, the more extensively and 
thoroughly one knows that which is outside of 
theology, the better one can know theology. 

The value of the course of introductory and 
parallel study is both formal and material. It 
furnishes both an indispensable mental dis- 
cipline and also indispensable facts. A me- 
chanic cannot build a house unless he has the 
strength and the skill; nor can he rear the 
superstructure unless he has the scaffold 
and the material. One cannot have mental 
strength and skill unless he has practiced men- 
tal gymnastics. Nor can one know how to read 
unless he has previously learned the letters. 
He cannot master trigonometry who knows 
nothing of geometry. He cannot know theol- 
ogy who has not previously learned more or 
less of those branches, a knowledge of which 
theological science necessarily presupposes. 
As essential elements of the course preparatory 
to the study of theology we may mention the 
following : 

I. SCIENCES. 

I. Encyclopedia, — By this is meant, as ex- 
plained above, not a technical dictionary, but 
that encyclopedia which is in itself a science; 
as, the encyclopedia of philosophy, the encyclo- 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 23 

pedia of mathematics, theology, etc., the object 
of which is to furnish the student with a 
" bird's-eye view" of the whole range of the 
sciences of which they treat respectively, and 
also to exhibit the parts of which each is com- 
posed, and their relations to each other, and the 
end which each has in view. Here belongs 
also Universal Encyclopedia, which performs the 
same office in respect to the whole range of 
human knowledge that particular encyclopedia 
performs in respect to its particular science. 
The student should have at an early stage of 
his career a knowledge of the contents of such 
works as " The Introduction to the Study of 
Philosophy," or Theology, Law, Mathematics, 
etc.; a part of his course, however, which is 
generally too much neglected, whatever may 
be the student's prospective profession or 
vocation, and consequently he has correspond- 
ing little knowledge of his science. Especially 
is it worth while for the theological student to 
know something of theological encyclopedia, at 
least in its introductory aspect, and the ency- 
clopedia of those branches of knowledge most 
nearly related to theology. 

It is certainly true that students are too 
often permitted even to finish their course 
without receiving special instruction respecting 
the aim and value of their particular studies, 
and respecting the proper spirit and best method 



24 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

of their pursuit. As a consequence certain 
branches are studied simply with a view to 
reaching the end of the course ; they are pur- 
sued in a mechanical way, and tend to hinder 
rather than develop the student. A study 
should be made to appear as rational to the 
student, by indicating its nature and aim, and 
relation to other branches, and by showing 
how it can be pursued most successfully.** 

2. Economics. — There is a sense in which the 
minister of the gospel is not of the world, but 
it is nevertheless true that he is in the world ; 
and is to bring the world back to God by per- 
sonal contact with it. And he is also a citizen, 
and has his place and his duties as such. But 
citizens are made, or ought to be, by a process 
of education to that end, and not merely by a 
process of natural physical growth. The science 
of civil government should be studied, and the 
student should know his own relation to the 
government under which he lives ; the differ- 
ence between liberty and license should be 
perceived. The great questions of Trade, 
Monopoly, Competition, Labor, Property, 
Wealth, Sociology, Socialism, Divorce, Tem- 
perance, the Sabbath, etc., are also questions 
of ethics. They have their moral side. The 
apostle Paul did not fail to give his converts in- 

* See Stuckenberg's Introduction to the Study of Phi- 
losophy. 



THEOLOGICAL ENCTCLOPEDIA. 25 

struction on these topics, in so far as demanded 
at the time when he wrote and by those to 
whom he wrote. Neither should they be 
ignored by the young American, even though 
he be a prospective student of theology, or a 
minister of the gospel. Nor should he trust 
merely to his intuitions for his knowledge of 
these topics, nor to the current teachings 
of selfish partisans and demagogues. They 
should be studied as a part of the course 
preparatory to his professional curriculum, and 
continued as collateral thereto to the end of 
his life. 

3. Philology. — First of all in the philologi- 
cal course stands the student's own vernacular, 
which with us is the English. It would seem 
unnecessary to argue here ; but it is not un- 
necessary. What does our average student 
usually know so little of as of his vernacular — 
whether in respect of etymologies, syntax or 
pronunciation ? The accusation that the Eng- 
lish is a grammarless tongue may to a certain 
extent be a just one, but it nevertheless has 
more of grammar than is usually mastered by 
those whose special business it is to speak and 
write it. Grammatical exegesis lies at the very 
basis of all exegetical study of the Scriptures ; 
and if the student who restricts himself to the 
use of the English text would reach the best 
results he is obliged to know English in its 



26 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

etymological, syntactical, and logical aspects. 
The etymology of " tribulation " is itself a com- 
mentary on the word ; so with hundreds of 
others. And words have histories. A transla- 
tion of a word that was good in 1611 may 
not be a good translation now. If the English 
exegete should know such details as these con- 
cerning his own language he would be only so 
much the better English exegete. He should 
also be able to distinguish the various figures 
of speech from plain language, and the fact 
that English is his vernacular will not of itself, 
in every instance, enable him to do this. 

Of modern languages a knowledge of the 
German is the most desirable, not only because 
of the discipline and culture which the study 
affords, but especially because of the theologi- 
cal and Biblical thought and research which it 
embodies. Of the ancient languages, con- 
sidered simply as languages even, Latin and 
Greek are especially important, and should 
be omitted from the theological student's pre- 
paratory course only in obviously exceptional 
cases. If a preliminary knowledge of the 
Hebrew and its cognates could be also had, it 
would be only so much the better for the stu- 
dent's after work in Biblical exegesis. It has, 
however, unfortunately, been the custom to 
relegate the study of these languages almost 
wholly to the theological seminary. A few 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 27 

recent innovations upon this custom are 
encouraging. 

4. History. — It is also necessary that the 
theological student, whether in the seminary 
or beyond it in the work of the ministry, 
should know history. The sooner he begins 
its study, and the more thoroughly he pursues 
it, the better. He cannot wisely guide the 
movements of the Church who does not know 
the history of the Church; and he cannot know 
the history of the Church who does not also 
know secular history. Church history is only 
a branch of universal history, and it cannot be 
understood adequately and thoroughly unless 
it be known in its intertwinings with the his- 
tory of the world. And the practical lessons 
which it is most necessary for the Church of 
any generation to learn are those which it can 
learn only from its history in the generations 
past. Only thus can the Church be caused to 
avoid the repetition of its errors, and be 
spared the necessity of fighting again over 
issues that were settled long ago. Our pres- 
ent, any present indeed, can be well known only 
in the light shed upon it by the past. Any 
present, in order to be thoroughly known, must 
be known not only in itself, but in its causes and 
in its tendencies. Any subject, as the Christi- 
anity of any period, in order to be thoroughly 
known, must be known, not only in itself, not 



28 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

only in its causes and tendencies, but also in 
its relations to that which is contemporary. 
The Church and the world have through the 
ages acted and reacted upon each other, and 
the Church of any period can be well known 
only as known in its connections with the 
secular history of the same period. And Chris- 
tianity itself, as a body of doctrine, capable of 
being transmuted into life, can be fully 
appreciated only as seen in contrast with the 
ancient heathen civilizations — the world with 
Christ side by side with the world without 
Christ. "The habits of thought presented in 
the Bible and Christianity, so contrary to 
those of heathenism, can only be appreciated 
by him who has come to understand the spirit 
of antiquity/' Everything that is studied 
should be studied in its history, not events 
only, but thought as well, for thoughts are the 
causes of events, and events in turn the causes 
of thought. More than one bloody war has 
had its origin in opposing exegeses of Biblical 
texts; or because a prominent leader rejected or 
accepted a theological or philosophical thesis. 
Error may often best, or most easily, be iden- 
tified as such by identifying it as something 
upon which history has already passed sen- 
tence of condemnation. The only way to 
avoid fighting the old battles over again is to 
know the old battles that have been fought. 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 29 

The only way to avoid the repetition of former 
blunders is to know former blunders. The 
only way to know the duties of the present is 
to know what has, and what has not, been 
accomplished in the past. The ministry of no 
church is equal to the highest mission which 
may be its own unless a fair proportion of its 
membership know history well — unless enough 
of these know history to give character to the 
whole. 

5. Mathematics and Astronomy. — The theolo- 
gian is not expected to employ mathematical 
formulae in his processes of reasoning, nor to 
apply triangles and squares to the doctrine of 
the Trinity; notwithstanding attempts have 
been made to do so. The subjects with which 
the demonstrative power of the theologian 
deals lie outside of the range of mathematical 
formulae and symbols. And yet the study of 
mathematics is not valueless to the young 
theologian as a part of his preparatory course. 
Dr. Chalmers, indeed, is said to have continued 
the study of one or more branches of this 
science long after he had become one of Scot- 
land's giants. It inures the mind to habits of 
exact thought and concentration ; it drills and 
tests the reasoning faculties, and in some of its 
branches the powers also of conception and 
imagination. It leads the student into a realm 
of thought into which nothing but mathematics 



30 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

can conduct him, where nothing is visible save 
to the mind's eye, and only to the mind's eye 
when disciplined to keenness of vision. And 
yet they are realities, belonging to the list of 
God's wonders, and he who sees them should 
only the more adore. Nor is it necessary, or in- 
evitable, that he should be one-sided in his 
mental development who has this keenness of 
mathematical vision. Nor is it necessary for the 
student who would have the benefit of the 
mathematical discipline — for its benefit to him 
is chiefly disciplinary — that he should become 
a specialist. Nor is it necessary, however 
much he may be inured to it, that his 
imaginative and other faculties should be 
correspondingly dwarfed, or that he should be 
rendered dissatisfied with any other than de- 
monstrative evidence. With no mind naturally 
well balanced will it be so. While its value to 
the theologian, save only as a discipline, is not 
equal to that of history or philology and the 
other branches named, the theological student 
should not regard his preparatory course as 
complete unless it has embraced a considerable 
amount of mathematics. 

The same advantage of discipline accrues to 
the student of mathematical and physical as- 
tronomy, and a still more apparent advantage 
from the study of descriptive astronomy. 
There have been astronomers who were not 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 31 

devout. It is true that of themselves "not all 
the evidences of the stars are able to lead to the 
star of Bethlehem," but it is also true that the 
whole of astronomy is an elaborate commen- 
tary on the words of the nineteenth Psalm; 
and it is also true that a knowledge of this 
science does no less adorn and ennoble the 
theologian than other cultivated persons. Every 
student is perhaps acquainted with, the famous 
words of Kant concerning the starry heavens 
above and the moral law within — " The two 
unwritten revelations of God which," he said, 
" fill the mind with an ever new, an ever rising 
admiration and reverence." 

6. The Natural Sciences. — No less close, 
perhaps even closer, to the sphere of the 
student of theology lie the natural and phys- 
ical sciences, both in a formal and material 
respect. The study of these branches not only 
harmonizes with the Christian belief in God 
and immortality, but furnishes various illustra- 
tive aids to this belief. Those who know the 
least of these sciences,- and of their relation to 
the Bible and theology, are the ones who refer 
most frequently to their progress as being 
detrimental to the Christian faith. Evolution 
is the ghost which, in the estimation of the ig- 
norant, the natural sciences ever evoke. But 
the natural sciences must be studied ; they will 
be studied by the secular student, and they 



32 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

ought to be studied by the student of theol- 
ogy ; they should be studied by the latter, both 
in respect to their contents and in respect to 
their relation to his own science. He may not 
make thorough and special work of it, but he 
should make intelligent work of it. " In pres- 
ence of the theological thaw going on so fast 
on all sides, there is on the part of many a 
fear," says Herbert Spencer, "and on the part 
of some a hope, that nothing will remain. But 
the hopes and the fears are alike groundless.'* 
Nature conceals God only from those who will 
not see God. The higher ministry of nature is 
to reveal God. 

" I best prepare the world for larger faith ; 
The doubt I plant stakes up the vine belief, 
And Christ sits firmer on his kingdom's throne 
Because of science." 

"It seems to me," says Diman, "that the 
mode of conceiving the operations of nature 
which is most widely accepted today, which 
goes under the general designation of evolu- 
tion, instead of rendering the great cardinal 
truths of the gospel less creditable, only ren- 
ders them more creditable/' Witness also the 
excellent service which the natural sciences 
have been made to do in such works as Drum- 
mond's "Natural Law in the Spiritual World," 
— excellent in spite of whatever special faults 
such works may possess. And it is quite pos- 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 33 

sible even for evolution to be thoroughly Chris- 
tian and theistic ; but whether so or not, he 
cannot know who is not at least somewhat 
acquainted with the facts on which in any one 
of its forms evolution is supposed to be based. 
The student of theology should know both 
his enemies and his friends. 

7. Law. — At least the elementary principles 
of the science of Law should also be included 
in the course. In addition to the nature and 
functions of the State and National Govern- 
ments and their relations to each other; in 
addition to a right conception of the doctrine 
of human liberty; it is also desirable that the 
minister should, in the initial stages of his 
career, acquaint himself with the rules of 
evidence as laid down and discussed in such 
works on this subject as the first volumes 
of Kent and Greenleaf. Aside from the in- 
evitable connection which the minister must 
have with human life in his capacity of citi- 
zen, and pastor, and member of ecclesiasti- 
cal bodies, it is a large part of his business 
to argue; and while the Law of Evidence 
furnishes no secret, or talismanic, machinery, 
whereby one may establish his thesis, it is, 
nevertheless, worth while that he should be 
acquainted with the rules of evidence as em- 
ployed by that profession every member of 
which does the most of his speaking in the 



34 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

presence of an opponent, whose business it is 
to call every item into instant question. He 
may do this without assuming in the pulpit the 
attitude of a lawyer at the bar; and yet he 
should conduct his reasoning on the supposi- 
tion that there may be those in his audience 
able to refute it, and who in private might be 
inclined to do so. The bar, as a rule, has the 
reputation of being able to make better use of 
the principles of evidence than the pulpit, 
though there is no reason why this should be 
so in so far as the use of these principles falls 
within the province of the pulpit. 

The ministers prominence in the community 
in which he lives renders it necessary that he 
should know more of various other branches of 
law than would be suggested to him by his 
own common sense, or than he would be likely 
to absorb in his daily associations, or learn 
from his ordinary experiences of human life; 
as, for example, the law of domestic relations, 
contracts, wills, etc. It is necessary that he 
should thus inform himself both in order to 
spare himself the danger of frequent personal 
embarrassment, and because of the relation in 
which he stands to many of his people as their 
friend and counselor in regard to many matters 
concerning which it does not yet seem neces- 
sary to consult an attorney. And in all those 
instances wherein the law of the land does not 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 35 

seem to harmonize with the principles of moral- 
ity and right as laid down in the Bible the minis- 
ter must be wise enough not to rashly advise 
those who seek his counsel to live in violation 
of the former. A too sensitive and unenlight- 
ened conscience is not a competent interpreter 
of the law of the land in its relations to the 
Word of God. To peacefully seek the repeal 
of a law is better than to recklessly violate it. 

II. ARTS. 

i. Rhetoric. — The discussion of the art of 
preaching is a part of theological science. 
Speaking precedes preaching; hence one must 
know rhetoric in general before one can apply 
it to the purposes of theology. An essential 
preliminary, therefore, as well as an essential 
collateral, of the theological curriculum, is 
rhetoric, or the art of both written and un- 
written discourse. Rhetoric precedes Sacred 
Rhetoric, or Homiletics; and he cannot know 
the latter adequately who does not have some 
knowledge of the former. He whose special 
mission it is to speak and write should not 
only know wkat y but he should also know 
/zow; he should have not only the subject- 
matter, but also a right method — not always 
the same method, but always a right method. 
Before proceeding to the best text-book on 
sacred rhetoric he should acquaint himself 



36 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGY. 

thoroughly with one or more of the best text- 
books on rhetoric and elocution in general, and 
should practice much the arts of writing and 
speaking. The ancient teachers of Christianity 
were accustomed to put into the hands of their 
pupils the works of heathen rhetoricians, 
making such modifications only as were neces- 
sary to adapt them more nearly to Christian 
oratory and composition. After awhile the 
great Christian teachers began to write their 
own rhetorics. But the student should not 
restrict himself to the text-books. He should 
read the best works, historical, literary and 
poetical, that are accessible to him, whether 
ancient or modern; not merely, perhaps in 
some instances not at all, for the sake of their 
thoughts, but also that he may learn how best 
to express his own. He should also acquaint 
himself with the great types of discourse that 
have prevailed in the different ages of the 
Church, as the primitive, the mediaeval, the 
Reformed, the Lutheran, etc., in order that he 
may know in advance the methods that have 
been tried and found suitable or unsuitable, as 
well as have a readier knowledge of what is 
best adapted to his own circumstances. To 
the same end it should be a part of his unend- 
ing education to use his eye and ear in observ- 
ing the best speakers whom he may have 
opportunity to hear. 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 37 

2. Christian Painting, Sculpture and Archi- 
tecture. — The student of theology cannot 
afford to be ignorant of these topics in their 
historical aspects. The Christian Church in 
its earliest age was, for reasons which cannot 
be presented here, unfriendly in its attitude 
toward these arts; but they gradually found 
their way into the Church, until there has 
come to be, in contradistinction from pagan 
art, a " Christian art " of large proportion. The 
Church, indeed, was for centuries the chief 
patron of painting, sculpture and architec- 
ture. Giotto, Ghiberti, Donatello, Brunelleschi, 
Michaelangelo, Raphael, and many others, 
worked under the patronage of bishops, cardi- 
nals and popes. The history of these Christian 
arts is by no means a small section of the 
history of the Christian Church ; and a know- 
ledge of this section is valuable both in an 
exegetical and aesthetical, as well as practical 
point of view. The opinions prevalent at any 
given period of the Church are in many 
instances embodied on the canvas of the 
painter, or in the stone of the sculptor, so that 
the picture becomes a commentary upon the 
printed page. Many of the ancient artists, for 
example, represented John the Baptist and 
Christ as standing together in the Jordan, the 
former with a cup which he had dipped into 
the river, pouring the water on the latter's 



38 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

head.* Michaelangelo, in his famous statue of 
Moses, represents the great Hebrew Lawgiver 
with horns on his forehead, thus showing how it 
was customary to read the Latin Vulgate of Ex. 
xxxiv, 35 in his day; while the various anach- 
ronisms which are constantly perpetrated by 
the artists give us interesting glimpses of the 
manners and customs in their respective ages. 
Not only does the history of these arts 
furnish clear and brilliant illustrations of the 
general conditions of society, but also and 
especially of its moral and intellectual dis- 
positions. 

The state of the arts is an index to the state 
of religion, and morals, and general culture. 
" Whenever, in free or imperial city, in royal 
or monastic domain, such a degree of order 
was established that regular and legal modes 
of life became customary, and men could look 
forward beyond the narrow horizon of their 
own lives with confidence of transmitting their 
remembrance and their property to their suc- 
cessors, wealth began to accumulate, intelli- 
gence revived. As life became richer and 
more settled, the range of sentiment and of 
thought widened. Men felt unwonted need of 
utterance and communication, and language 

* See, for example, the frescoes in the catacomb of St. 
Calixtus, "The Baptism" by Verrocchio in the Belli Arti 
at Florence, the Buntano miniature, etc. 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 39 

and the arts answered to the strong inward 
emotion. "* 

But especially is church Architecture closely 
allied with liturgical theology. As it is pos- 
sible for the Church to be too bold in its 
liturgy, or rather in its destitution of the litur- 
gical element, so it is possible to be too negli- 
gent in the matter of . architecture. Both 
extremes should be avoided, and in order that 
both may be avoided understanding^ the 
student should have at least a general know- 
ledge of the history of the whole subject. The 
church edifice ought to be recognized by both 
pastor and people as an object lesson, the visi- 
ble embodiment of an idea, a perpetual teacher 
of divine truth to whomsoever enters it or wit- 
nesses it. It is surely true that that church 
which consists of only two or three Christian 
souls assembled in the name of Christ is more 
beautiful by far than even the great cathedral 
of St. Peter at Rome ; but it is also true, within 
certain limits, that the more intelligent care 
we bestow upon the house of God, the more 
we are likely to reverence Him who dwells 
therein. To behold the beautiful is itself 
an education. To behold the beautiful and 
good combined in one is both an education 
and a means of grace. The New Jerusalem 

* Norton's Historical Studies of Church Building in 
the Middle Ages. 



40 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

is represented in the Bible as being very 
beautiful. 

But it is always Art's place to serve religion, 
and not to be served by it. Religion cherishes 
art as its useful handmaid. 

3. Music and Poetry. — These are closely 
allied to each other, and the theologian should 
know something of both, though he may not 
be able to become an expert in either. He 
should know something both of music and 
poetry, both in themselves and in their his- 
tory, especially in order that he may have 
good taste and an intelligent judgment in re- 
gard to the hymnology and hymnody of the 
church. Nor should the minister's ability to 
sing or to finger the keys of an instrument be in 
excess of his historical knowledge, both of 
music and hymnology. As a matter of fact, 
new hymn books are constantly being made, 
old hymn books are constantly being revised. 
And to do this sifting of hymns and tunes is 
one of the most delicate, one of the most diffi- 
cult, and one of "the highest arts of theol- 
ogy." " It is one of the principal problems of 
liturgies to determine the principles" upon 
which changes and "improvements " should be 
introduced. And it will be very helpful to 
him whose office may call him to this line of 
work to know music and v sacred poetry, not 
only as sacred arts which are in vogue at the 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 41 

present day, but also in their various historical 
aspects. These studies should be begun in the 
lower schools and continued as a part of the 
course in the Theological seminary. 

And all this is apart from the emotional and 
aesthetic advantage which accrues to the per- 
son himself who knows music and poetry. 
" The two exercises and pastimes," said Luth- 
er, " that I like best for the young, are music 
and gymnastics, the former of which dispels 
the mental care and melancholy thought, while 
the latter produces elasticity of the body, and 
preserves health. Music soothes, quickens and 
refreshes the heart. Music is one of the 
noblest arts ; its notes give life and power. 
Satan is a great enemy to music [when 
employed by a soul having the fear of God]. 
It is a good antidote against temptation and 
evil thoughts."* He esteemed music next to 
a right theology in importance, and was him- 
self both a poet and musician. His songs, both 
as regards himself and the people of Germany, 
were not the weakest weapon with which he 
fought the battles of the Reformation. 

^Anecdotes and Table Talk. 



42 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 



II. 

SPECIALTHEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA 

Definition and Divisions. 

i. The term "theology" is an extremely 
elastic one. It may include much or little, ac- 
cording to the desire of him who uses it. It is 
used, for example, to denote the process of 
scripture study, as when we speak of Biblical 
exegesis as a branch of theology ; it is used also 
to denote the results of scripture study, as when 
we speak of Biblical theology as a branch of 
theology in general. It is used also to denote 
the formulated opinions and teachings of the 
church on certain topics. It is used to denote 
the opinions even of the heathen, as when we 
speak of heathen theology. It does not follow, 
however, that the term is in any way objection- 
able, more than many other words in all lan- 
guages, because of its breadth of application. 
It is simply a genus having under it many 
species and sub-species. And as he does not 
know " trees," for example,- who does not know 
the oak, elm, and other trees individually, so he 



THEOLOGICAL ENCTCLOPEDiA. 43 

does not know theology who does not know it in 
its general, less general, and most limited sense. 
2. The two grand divisions of theology, in 
the most general sense of the term, are Heathen 
and Christian theology. Every heathen people, 
however rude, has had its doctrine of God, or 
of the gods, and of things regarded by it as 
sacred, however crudely or imperfectly these 
doctrines may have been formulated. Hence, 
every heathen people has had its theology, and 
the consideration of this theology in certain of 
its aspects has its place in Theological Encyclo- 
pedia. The value of a knowledge of heathen 
theology is chiefly, though not wholly, illustra- 
tive. It has also to some extent a purely exe- 
getical value. The system of religion contained 
in the Bible, and based upon the Bible, was de- 
veloped through the ages in the midst of heath- 
enisms. This religion is, so to speak, the 
stream of living water running through the 
ages, and growing larger as it runs. The forests 
on either side are dense, and dark, and contin- 
uous. The Biblical religion cannot be com- 
pletely understood, either as a whole or in its 
details, until seen in the light of its contrast 
with heathenism ; not merely heathenism in 
general, but particularly that of the Old and 
New Testament times, with which the Biblical 
religion during its historical development was 
in closest contact. 



44 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY. 

3. But we have, under the head of Special 
Theological Encyclopedia, to do chiefly with 
Christian Theology, and with it in a somewhat 
restricted sense. We do not consider it here in 
its relations to any other branches of know- 
ledge, but only in itself. It is to be understood 
here as antithetical to heathen theology (includ- 
ing Mohammedanism), and therefore as includ- 
ing Christian Theology 

(1) In its Old Testament Aspects. 

(2) In its New Testament Aspects. 

(3) In its Post-Biblical Aspects. 

Christian Theology, then, is the science of 
Christianity in these several phases. But 
Christianity is manifestly both a history and a 
doctrine ; being, in its written form, a record of 
facts as well as of truths; a record of things 
done, or required to be done, as well as of 
things to be believed. Revealed religion, 
therefore, has its historical as well as its doc- 
trinal section ; which gives us, then, in the 
second place 

(1) Historical Theology 

{a) In its Old Testament Aspects, 
(d) In its New Testament Aspects, 
(c) In its Post-Biblical Aspects 4 ; 

(2) Doctrinal Theology > 

(a) In its Old Testament Aspects, 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 45 

(ff) In its New Testament Aspects, 
(c) In its Post-Biblical Aspects. 

4. But what does the term "historical," as 
here used, signify? 

It has reference to the acts of man, in his 
moral, religious, and ecclesiastical relations ; 
denoting, however, especially in the sphere of 
the two Testaments, mainly the dealings of 
God with man as expressed in God's deeds 
rather than in his words. But the fact that 
God in post-Biblical history, — or, to speak 
more generally, the fact that God outside of the 
sphere of revelation, whether the period of 
time under consideration be Biblical or post- 
Biblical, seems to conceal himself to a greater 
extent behind second causes, does not eliminate 
from history the divine element. God is still, 
and always, in history and in all history. The 
circle, the circumference of which marks the 
boundary of the kingdom of Jehovah, grows 
ever larger until after awhile it shall be coex- 
tensive with the circle whose circumference is 
the boundary of the kingdom of Elohim. Then 
church history shall be all history and all 
history shall be church history. So it is even 
now, indirectly ; and so it would also seem if we 
only had eyes to see the Invisible Hand 

" Wide working through the universal frame " 

in such way as to make all things subserve 



46 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

his purpose of redeeming man and the earth on 
which man lives. The ancient Amorites, for 
example, lived and moved outside of the sphere 
of the Old Testament revelation. They knew 
not what connection they had with God's pur- 
pose in regard to the chosen people, and the 
redemption of the world ; they did not suspect 
that they had any. And yet they were con- 
tributing, though unconsciously and wickedly, 
to the fulfillment of that purpose. The great 
deeds of God, which constitute the divine side 
of human history, are the shell, so to speak, in 
which he has deposited a truth of some sort. 
It is the business of historical theology to study 
not merely the shell, nor mainly the shell, but 
the truth also which the shell envelops — the 
facts in reference to their significance. 

5. On the other hand, what does the term 
"doctrinal," as here used, signify? It denotes, 
or rather it has reference to, a truth which is 
already expressed or formulated in words, as 
contradistinguished from one taught by means 
of historical event. The same truth may be, 
and many actually are, expressed in both ways. 
The object, then, of both historical and doc- 
trinal theology is the truth which God would 
make known to man ; and the truth as made 
known in the one way is a commentary on the 
truth as made known in the other way. Truth 
in words must be illustrated by truth in expe- 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 47 

rience, not only in the case of individuals, but 
also of nations and generations. 

6. Each of the branches of Christian the- 
ology above mentioned has its own method. 
But it is not the method of a science that gives 
name to it, but rather the subject-matter. At 
least the subject-matter names the genus of the 
science, while the source whence the material is 
drawn often names the species. "Theology," 
for example, is the name of a genus, so called 
because of the nature of the subject of which 
it treats ; " Biblical " theology is the name of a 
species, and is so called because its material is 
drawn from the Bible rather than from the sub- 
sequent history of the church and the creeds. 
The method is rather of the nature of an acci- 
dent (accidentia) which may, or may not, be- 
long to the species ; though, of course, a right 
method is extremely important, as the value of 
a treatise on any branch of science depends 
very largely on the method pursued in con- 
structing it. The historical theology of the 
Old Testament, for instance, is historical both 
in subject-matter and in method. It is histori- 
cal in subject-matter because it deals with his- 
torical facts ; it is historical in method because 
it deals with these facts as a development, or 
orderly progression. The doctrinal theology of 
the Old Testament is doctrinal, of course, in 
subject-matter, but it is historical in method 



48 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGY. 

because it presents the doctrines in their his- 
torical sequence and growth. 

7. Nor does the manner in which the ma- 
terial is gathered give name to the science. 
Biblical theology (e. g.), which is composed of 
the historical theology and the doctrinal the- 
ology of the two Testaments, obtains its ma- 
terial by exegetical processes, but it is not on 
this account to be regarded as a species of exe- 
getical theology. Strictly speaking there can 
be no such thing as exegetical theology, only in 
so far as all theology is in some sense exegeti- 
cal. All theology presupposes interpretation, 
and all Christian theology is, moreover, obliged 
to be nothing more nor less than an orderly 
arrangement and discussion of the facts and 
truths of Christianity. It is a structure, not a 
thing in process of construction. But the term 
" exegetical " refers to a process ; something is 
not done, but is only in the act of being done ; 
and the act, or process, referred to in this in- 
stance, is not the act of erecting the edifice, but 
only the act of gathering the material. If this 
be all that is meant by those who call Biblical 
theology an exegetical science, they are so far 
certainly right. But it would seem that some- 
thing more than this should be meant, other- 
wise the term exegetical in this connection has 
no special significance. Many persons are ex- 
pert in gathering material who may by no 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 49 

means be expert in the work of putting it to- 
gether and erecting the edifice ; and vice versa. 
So there are many good exegetes who could 
scarcely construct a Biblical Theology. Chemis- 
try may in a general way be called an experi- 
mental science ; but many a man can make 
numerous successful experiments who could by 
no means construct a scientific chemical treatise. 
Chemistry is much more than an experimental 
science; as a science, indeed, it is not experi- 
mental at all, for when it begins to be a science 
it ceases to be experiment. It is then the 
record of experiments and their results. We 
might perhaps, however, think of classifying 
the sciences as abstract and experimental, or 
concrete, but not as chemical, botanical, experi- 
mental, etc., for the term experimental cannot 
be co-ordinate with the others. So with the 
term " exegetical." It has a proper place in 
theological nomenclature, but not as a term de- 
scriptive of one of the branches of theology. 
Such an analysis of the subject-matter of the- 
ology would scarcely be possible as would ren- 
der the term descriptive of one of the co-ordi- 
nate branches. There would be a perpetual 
and illogical lapping over. Various branches 
of Biblical study are more or less exegetical, 
but they are not exegetical theology except in 
a loose sense. These terms scarcely coalesce. 
Theology in its most general Christian sense is 

3 



50 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

the science of Christianity, or of revealed re- 
ligion. But Biblical Exegesis is not theology in 
any sense; it is simply a process — an art. 
And Biblical theology is not exegetical ; it is 
the result of the exegetical process, but is no 
constituent part of that process. Judging from 
the current manner of the catalogues of theo- 
logical seminaries, and the current structure of 
many theological text-books, it would seem that 
theological science as such is yet in an imper- 
fect state ; though a tendency toward better 
things both in the catalogue and the text-book 
is apparent. 

8. The place, then, of the term " exegetical," 
in theological encyclopedia, though a very im- 
portant one, is on the outside of theological 
science itself. It is introductory to it ; not 
simply as the porch is to the house, but rather 
as the process of gathering the material is to the 
building which is to be erected. It designates 
all the branches of study which are immediately 
auxiliary to theology. The study of the Hebrew 
and Biblical Greek languages is not itself a part 
of the exegetical discipline, but the application 
of a knowledge of these languages to the exegesis 
of the Scriptures is a part of that discipline. So 
with the languages immediately cognate; so 
with Biblical Antiquities and kindred branches. 

9. On the other hand, Practical Theology is 
more justly entitled to be called theology, be- 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 51 

cause its province is to deal directly with 
Christianity. It deals with the edifice itself, 
and not with the vestibule through which we 
enter it, nor with the key which unlocks it, 
nor with the art of gathering the material out of 
which it is composed. As a branch of theologi- 
cal science it is called " practical/' not because it 
is exclusively entitled to be so called, but be- 
cause it is pre-eminently so entitled, and for 
want of a better term. Its exclusive province is 
Christianity in its concrete form — "Church 
activities and functions, whether these be 
exercised by the church as a whole or by indi- 
vidual members and representative persons act- 
ing for the Church/' It is strictly a science, 
whereas exegetics is both a science and an art, 
though in the former aspect it is purely pro- 
pedeutical, lying wholly outside of the sphere of 
theology. But Practical Theology is not only a 
science ; it is also a theological science, though 
it has immediate reference to what shall be done 
and how, rather than to what shall be believed. 
This last fact is what renders it " practical," and 
the fact that the things to be done lie within 
the sphere of Christianity and the religious 
life renders it " theology." 

10. But Practical Theology is not Practical 
Ethics. The former deals with expediencies, 
the latter with morals. So far as the morality 
of the question is concerned, it may be a matter 



52 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

of indifference what form the activities, or 
functions, of Christianity assume at a given 
time and under given circumstances ; but it is 
always a matter of expediency that under given 
circumstances they should assume such and 
such a form. It must be Congregational, Pres- 
byterian, Prelatical, or a modification of one or 
the other of these ; but the question, " Which 
shall it be?" is not one of morals but rather of 
expediency. So with the questions concerning 
the form of the public worship, the emphasis to 
be placed upon the sermon as a part of the 
worship, and the emphasis to be placed upon 
the educational function of the Church as com- 
pared with the purely evangelistic function. 
Such questions as these are questions of expe- 
diences and sufficiently distinguish practical 
theology from practical ethics. But it is never 
a mere matter of expediency that in view 
of my relations to my family, my fellow-man, 
and to God, I owe to each of these certain 
duties respectively. It is a matter of immutable 
morality. It could not be otherwise and be 
right. 

ii. So we conclude that" Practical Theology 
is " practical," and that it is also " theology," be- 
cause of the nature of its subject-matter. Here, 
again, the nature of th v e method, or process, 
according to which, as a science, it is constructed, 
has nothing to do in determining the name. It 



THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 53 

might have something to do in determining a 
name, but not this one. The method might 
suggest " inductive," " empirical," "a posteriori," 
or some other descriptive term, but it could not 
suggest the name " practical " theology. 

12. It seems that the current theological 
nomenclature is in need of some degree of 
revision, and that to this end the generally 
received analysis, furnished in part by Theologi- 
cal Encyclopedia and in part based upon it, 
needs recasting. Why, for instance, do we 
name the science, in its most general sense, 
theology ; including under this one name all the 
divisions and subdivisions, or special senses in 
which the term is used ? A correct answer may 
easily be given, of course, but not consistently 
with the generally received analysis. In one 
instance the term theology means one thing, 
whereas in another it denotes quite a different 
thing,— -a fact that becomes evident upon a 
brief notice of the descriptive terms here and 
there sometimes found attached to it. The 
thing desired is the higher unity of the science 
in its most general sense, in which all the genera 
and species inhere and readily coalesce : and all 
the definitions should be formed accordingly, 
including no more and excluding no more 
'than is required by the analysis. The term 
" theology " should mean the same thing what- 
ever adjective may be attached to it. In this 



54 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY 

respect, however, it is to be suspected, at least, 
that our science must at present yield the palm 
of perfectness to its younger sister — Natural 
Science. 



GENERAL SCHEME. 55 



III. 

GENERAL SCHEME. 

I. Studies Preparatory to the Theo- 
logical Curriculum. 

RECURRING to what has been said in the 
preceding pages, we may easily derive the fol- 
lowing general plan, or scheme, embracing pre- 
paratory and auxiliary studies, as well as the 
various branches of theology properly so called ; 
and in which every part seems to be exhibited 
in its proper place and in its logical connections. 
As a matter of fact, however, two or more of 
the subjects are, of course, usually to be pur- 
sued simultaneously. 

A. Sciences. 

i. PJiilology, including 

(i) The English Language and Literature; 

(2) The Ancient Classics ; 

(3) The Hebrew and its Cognates; 

(4) The German and French ; 

(5) Comparative Philology. 



56 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGY. 

2. History, including 

(i) Ancient European and Oriental History; 

(2) Sacred History ; 

(3) Elementary Church History; 

(4) Modern Secular History; 

(5) History of Human Thought. 

3. Mathematics and Astronomy. 

4. Natural Sciences. 

5. Law, especially 

(1) Civics, or Structure of our Government 
(First Kent); 

(2) International Law (First Kent); 

(3) Economics, Political and Christian ; 

(4) Law of Evidence, Contracts, Domestic 
Relations, etc. 

6. Philosophy, including 

(1) Psychology; 

(2) Ethics ; 

(3) Metaphysics and Ontology; 

(4) Logic; 

(5) History of Philosophy; 

(6) Philosophy of History; 

(7) Philosophy of Religion (in the rudiments, 
as this subject in its larger form belongs to a 
later period in the curriculum). 

The preliminary study thus far mentioned 
prepares for 



GENERAL SCHEME. 57 

7. Encyclopedia, in the sense defined above, 
including such subjects as 

(1) Introduction to the Study of Philology; 

(2) Introduction to the Study of History; 

(3) Introduction to the Study of Philosophy; 

(4) Introduction to the Study of Theology, 
Law, the Natural Sciences, etc. 

We are thus prepared for an intelligent review 
and further and more thorough and more satis- 
factory pursuit of the whole curriculum. 

B. Arts, especially 

1. Rhetoric* including 

(1) Readings from the best Authors; 

* The Bible is no less the " arsenal of the rhetorician" 
than of the theologian and Christian. Macaulay revealed 
a fineness of rhetorical judgment, which immortalized 
him, in making the King James version of the Scriptures 
contribute so largely to his style. His writings abound to 
an uncommon extent in illustrations, metaphors, and sim- 
iles, drawn from this source. "The more I think," said 
Jeffrv, the editor of the ' Edinburgh Review,' in acknowl- 
edging the receipt of the essay on Milton, — "the more I 
think, the less I can conceive where you picked up that 
style." "A person who professes to be a critic in the deli- 
cacies of the English language," says Macaulay, " ought to 
have the Bible at his finger's end," — an admirable canon of 
literary criticism. Dr. Peabody, of Harvard, says (in the 
New York Evangelist)'. "I am accustomed to say to 
young men who are ambitious to write well : ' Study the 
English Bible. It will be worth more to you than all oral 
or written rules, and than all other examples of English 
Composition.' " 



58 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

(2) Writing with a view to formation of Style ; 

(3) Elocution with a view to Oral Discourse. 

2. Christian Art, including 

(1) History of Painting; 

(2) History of Sculpture; 

(3) History of Church Architecture. 

3. Music and Poetry, 

(1) History of Church Music; 

(2) Kinds of Church Music ; 

(3) Vocal and Instrumental Study; 

(4) Poetry, Hymns and their History. 

ii. exegetical and other auxiliary 
Studies. 

Under this head are included the various 
branches commonly embraced under the name 
of " Exegetical Theology,'' and the study of 
which is not usually begun until the student has 
entered the theological seminary. Strictly 
speaking, however, as the first course is pre- 
paratory to this, so is this preparatory to the 
following (III). For reasons stated above, 
Biblical Theology is not included here. The 
division, therefore, of this whole department of 
study is only two-fold : (1) Biblical Introduc- 
tion ; (2) Biblical Exegesis. 

1. Biblical Introduction- --The definition will 
appear from the divisions and subdivisions as 



GENERAL SCHEME. 59 

given below. The term first employed to 
designate this branch of Biblical study was the 
Greek word Isagogics, or Eisagogics. The Ger- 
man writers employ their vernacular word Ein- 
leitung. The term is used to designate those 
preliminary studies which are immediately in- 
troductory and auxiliary to the actual work of 
Biblical Exegesis. It is sometimes also denom- 
inated the department of Biblical Literature, 
a term which, like Introduction, is used with 
more vagueness of scope than the dignity and 
importance of theological science can justify. 
As introductory to the study of the Scriptures 
in general it is General Introduction; as 
restricted to particular books it is Special. We 
include here the following four branches with 
their principal subdivisions : 

(i) Biblical Archeology •-, including 

(a) Biblical Geography; 

(b) Biblical Physiography ; 

(c) Manners and Customs of the Hebrews ; 

(d) Arts and Sciences of the Hebrews. 

(2) Biblical Canonics, including the canon of 
Scripture as regarded 

{a) By the Jewish and early Christian 
Church ; 

(b) By the Roman Catholic Church ; 

(c) By the Protestant Church ; 

(d) Criticism of the Canon. 



60 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

(3) The Lower, or Textual, Criticism, includ- 
ing the discussion of such topics as 

(a) The Hebrew Characters, Vowel Points, 
and Accents. 

(6) The History of the Text of the Old Testa- 
ment. 

(c) The History of the Printed Text of the 
Old Testament. 

(d) The Hebrew Manuscripts. 

(e) Versions of the Old Testament. 

00 Quotations from the Old Testament. 

(g) The same subjects as applied to the 
New Testament. 

(k) History of Textual Criticism. 

(i) Application of principles of criticism to 
the ascertainment of the correct text. 

(4) The Higher, or Historical, Criticism, in- 
cluding the discussion of such topics as 

(a) The authorship, date, composition, etc., 
of the various books of the Bible. 

(b) The circumstances under which they were 
written. 

(c) Their occasion, design and leading 
thoughts. 

(d) The History of the Higher Criticism. 

This completes the list of the principal divi- 
sions and principal subdivisions of Biblical In- 
troduction, or Biblical Literature. The topics 
(a), (b) and (c) under number (4) are sometimes 



GENERAL SCHEME. 61 

discussed under the head of Special Introduc- 
tion, which in general terms is only another 
name for the Higher, or Historical, Criticism. 
Hagenbach objects to the analysis of criticism 
into higher and lower, and prefers the terms 
External Criticism and Internal Criticism. 
These deal with the same questions, but while 
the former draws its data from sources external 
to the book or passage, such as quotations in 
the writings of the fathers, ancient manuscripts, 
versions, etc., the latter restricts itself to such 
evidences as are furnished by the text itself. 

2. Biblical Exegesis, — This, in a general 
sense, includes both the interpretation, the 
explication, and the application of Scrip- 
ture. By interpretation we seek simply to 
apprehend the fact or doctrine which the 
author states ; by explication, or exposition, we 
elaborate more or less, or paraphrase with a 
view to conveying our understanding of the 
passage to others ; by application we seek to 
place the teaching of the passage in its 
proper relation to the faith and morals of the 
present reader or hearer, or the present church 
as a whole. This, in order to be done intel- 
ligently and wisely, must be done under the 
guidance of principles the discussion of which 
falls within the province of Biblical Exegesis. 
Legitimate application must be distinguished 
from mere suggestion, for a passage of Scrip- 



62 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

ture may remind us of many good thoughts 
which were perhaps far from the original inten- 
tion of the writing. 

We may consider Biblical Exegesis 
(i) In its basis; 

(2) In its process ; 

(3) In its methods ; 

(4) In its history; 

(5) In its principles (Hermeneutics proper). 

A. As to the Basis of Exegesis we have 

1. Sacred Philology. — As the Bible was origi- 
nally written in Hebrew, Chaldee, and Hellen- 
istic Greek, a knowledge of these languages in 
their grammatical structure and vocabulary is 
of primary importance to the exegete. 

2. Cognate Philology. — The Arabic, Assyrian, 
Samaritan, and the Chaldee of the Targums 
were close neighbors of the languages of the 
Old Testament, and related to them in gram- 
matical and lexical respects. A knowledge of 
these languages helps to a more thorough 
knowledge of the Hebrew and Biblical Chaldee. 
Of course a knowledge of classical Greek is 
presupposed. 

3. Oriental Archceology. — Besides the He- 
brew, or Biblical antiquities, a knowledge of the 
social, religious, and the political life, and the 
conditions generally, of the peoples with whom 



GENERAL SCHEME. 63 

the Hebrews were more or less closely asso- 
ciated at the different periods of their history, 
is essential to a thorough understanding and 
appreciation of many parts of the Bible. 

B. In respect to the PROCESS OF EXEGESIS, 
we have the following: 

i . Grammatical Exegesis; which seeks, by an 
examination of each word, to ascertain what 
the author says. Thorough work here requires 
a knowledge of the original language of the 
writing, and in order to reach its end seeks 
such helps as the following: 

(i) The connection in which the passage 
occurs; 

(2) Verbal parallelisms ; 

(3) General helps — such as grammar and 
lexicon ; 

(4) Special helps — such as ancient and 
modern commentaries ; 

(5) Character of the language as a whole ; 

(6) The linguistic peculiarities of the particu- 
lar writer ; 

(7) The customary sense in which the word 
or phrase is used. 

2. Logical Exegesis; which occupies itself with 
the logical and rhetorical forms in which the 
author expresses his thought, in order that the 
thought itself may be ascertained. It notices 



64 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY 

(i) The rhetorical expressions and figures 
which occur; 

(2) The dialectic, or logical, forms of speech ; 

(3) The relations between words or thoughts 
as indicated by conjunctions ; 

(4) Relations as indicated by participles ; 

(5) Relations as indicated by prepositions ; 

(6) The central thought of the writing. 

3. Historical Exegesis; which looks to the 
historical surroundings of the author and of 
those to whom the writing is addressed. Besides 
using for this purpose such data as may be 
available from archaeology in general, it has re- 
course also to the particular writing, and takes 
notice of the influence on the thought of all 
such allusions to the surroundings as 

(1) The physical and geographical. 

(2) The social and political. 

(3) The religious and theological. 

4. Comparative Exegesis; which compares 
Scripture with Scripture on the principle that 
the Bible cannot be safely interpreted unless it 
be permitted to speak for itself. It calls into 
requisition the further principle that any given 
passage is to be interpreted in harmony with 
the general trend of Scripture teaching, and 
especially the general trend of the particular 
book in which the passage under consideration 
is found. However loose may be one's views 



GENERAL SCHEME. 65 

of inspiration and the unity of Scripture, his 
presupposition must be that no author has con- 
tradicted himself. Under the head of Compara- 
tive Exegesis are to be considered such topics 
as 

(i) The trend of Scripture teaching on the 
subject in hand ; 

(2) Parallelisms of subject-matter as distin- 
guished from mere verbal parallelisms ; 

(3) The same passage as quoted in other 
parts of the Bible, whether the Old or New 
Testament. , 

5. Literary Exegesis ; which collects, exam- 
ines, sifts, and preserves, the exegetical labors 
of others. The object of this may be regarded 
as fourfold : 

(1) To test the accuracy of one's own exe- 
gesis ; 

(2) To test the exegesis of others ; 

(3) To preserve the valuable labors of former 
exegetes ; 

(4) To avoid wasting much time on issues 
that have been long settled. 

6. Doctrinal and Theological Exegesis. — Paul, 
the Apostle, declares that every Scripture in- 
spired of God is also good for teaching, for re- 
proof, for correction, for instruction which is in 
righteousness (2 Tim. iii, 16). The object, 
therefore, of doctrinal exegesis is 



66 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGY. 

(i) To so consider the exegetical results thus 
far obtained as "to derive therefrom the ideas 
of the author respecting religion, faith, and 
morals*'; 

(2) To consider these ideas in their relation 
to each other in the passage under review ; 

(3) To compare them with the doctrinal and 
ethical teachings of other parts of Scripture on 
the same subject, and thereby complete the 
exegetical preparation for Biblical theology. 

7. Practical and Homiletical "Exegesis ; which 
seeks to adapt, or apply, the teaching of the 
passage to the faith and life of the present 
Church, or the present readers or hearers. 
Here the exegete must for the most part leave 
his learned apparatus in his study, and take 
with him before the public only such results of 
its use as are derived legitimately from the 
passage, and are adapted to the special end in 
view and to the character and wants of his au- 
dience. He is, within certain limits at least, at 
liberty to use that which the passage merely 
suggests to him, provided mere suggestion be 
not confounded with that which the passage 
was originally intended to teach.* 

*See in particular on these topics, Briggs' Biblical 
Study and Immers' Hermeneutics. Said A. H. Francke 
nearly two hundred years ago, "It is well and commend- 
able that the study of the languages is urged forward, and 
it is not urged forward long enough, nor with due industry 



GENERAL SCHEME. 67 

C. As to the Methods of Exegesis, we 
have 

i. The Allegorical, which makes the Scrip- 
tures say one thing and mean another thing 
quite different from the natural import of the 
words. That is, the Scriptures, particularly the 
historical and narrative parts, are treated as 
an allegory. The result is worth nothing as 
exegesis, though practiced by some of the most 
eminent of the ancient church Fathers, notably 
Origen. It makes the author's language yield 
whatever teaching the whim or fancy of the in- 
terpreter may suggest.* It was prevalent as a 

in the schools and universities. But we should see to it 
that we do not remain hung up in the science of languages 
and philology; but that we make it our great object to ar- 
rive at a proper understanding of the matter itself, which 
is brought before us in God's word ; and to this end we 
should industriously supplicate God for the enlightenment 
of the Holy Spirit." This is true pietistic exegesis. 
Spener, the contemporary of Francke, also urged a " purer 
Biblical and practical statement of the doctrines of faith." 
But the " practical " exegesis which ignores the thorough 
study of the Word itself is not worthy to be so called. 
The object of the true practical exegesis is the awakening 
of the heart and the sanctification of the life through the 
right use of the Word of God. 

*E.g., Clement of Alexandria makes Sarah stand for 
Christian wisdom ; Hagar, for human wisdom or philoso- 
phy, and finds in the union of Abraham and Hagar the 
Christian's duty to study philosophy. Barnabas finds the 
great doctrine of Jesus crucified in the 318 servants of 
Abraham. Justin Martyr thinks the wrestling of Jacob 
was a type of the temptation of Christ, and the injury he 
received represented the suffering and death of Christ. 



68 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGY. 

method during the early and middle ages, under 
various forms, as the moral, mystical, topolog- 
ical, etc. 

2. The Catenistic, which consists of exposi- 
tions of Scripture composed of collections from 
various authors, the name being derived from 
the Latin catena, which signifies a chain — in 
this instance, a string of quotations or extracts. 
This method was much used in the sixth and 
following centuries, and was due in part to the 
decline of learning and in part to the policy of 
the bishops of Rome to discourage the study of 
the Bible. Had the catenists "exhibited the 
words of the fathers fairly and fully, without 
corruption or depravation, giving to each his 
own, their labors would have been very valua- 
ble. But such a course they did not follow. 
Ignorant, as they frequently were, they added 
negligence to their ignorance/* * The great 
Thomas Aquinas employed this method. The 
select quotations, or notes, of which some com- 
mentaries at the present time are chiefly com- 
posed are instances of what may be called the 
modern catenistic method. It has its proper 
place in the list of exegetical methods, and is a 
valuable one if intelligently and carefully pur- 
sued. 

3. The Dogmatic; prominent during the Re- 
formation period, and so called because its ob- 

* Davidson's Sacred Hermeneutics. 



GENERAL SCHEME. 69 

ject was to reach doctrinal conclusions. It dealt 
with the Scriptures chiefly for dogmatic pur- 
poses ; and its object in its abused form was not 
so much to reach conclusions as to support pre- 
conceived theological views. The Scripture 
came to be used rather as an " arsenal of proof- 
texts." Biblical Dogmatics was born of the 
"exegetical throes" of this period. It was a 
time, too, of much creed-making; and in the 
energy of hot disputes it was difficult, as it al- 
ways is, not to see in any given Scripture that 
which one is predisposed to see. The Anti- 
nomian, the Adiaphoristic, the Synergistic, the 
Osiandric, the Crypto-Calvinistic, the Syncretis- 
tic, and the various other Controversies of which 
we read in the Church Histories, are monuments 
of the energy and flame with which doctrinal 
points were discussed during this period. Or- 
thodoxy is good, is eminently essential; but it 
is nothing without life. Mere dogma is import- 
ant, but the student should always distinguish 
between mere dogma and doctrine.* " Christi- 
anity, in the established sense, is the presenta- 
tion to us, not of abstract dogmas for accept- 
ance, but of a living and a Divine Person, to 
whom they are to be united by a vital incor- 

* *'If you ask the difference between a doctrine and a 
dogma, I should say it is this : A doctrine is a truth held 
for its practical value : a dogma is a truth held merely for 
its place in the creed. The dogma is ut credam: the doc- 
trine is ut vivam." Dr. Ker, History of Preaching, p. 83. 



70 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

poration. It is the reunion to God of a nature 
severed from God by sin, and the process is one, 
not of teaching lessons, but of imparting a new 
life, with its ordained equipment of gifts and 
powers/' * There are times when the Bible 
must be studied for the purpose of making or 
defending dogmas, but if the study ends here 
decay follows. The dogma must be incor- 
porated into the life of the individual and of the 
church in order to constitute it doctrine. 

4. The Pietistic; introduced by Philip Jacob 
Spener and August Hermann Francke as 
a needed reaction against the cold dogmatism 
of their day. The former was born in 1635, 
and was educated chiefly at the University of 
Strasburg. He studied Hebrew at Bale under 
the younger Buxtorf, the most celebrated 
orientalist of his day. Francke was born 
twenty-eight years later. Recognizing the 
Hebrew and Greek as " the two eyes of Bible 
knowledge/' he studied these languages with 
the greatest ardor. Under the direction of a 
learned Rabbi he read the Hebrew Old Testa- 
ment through seven times in one year. Being 
"born again" while preparing a sermon on the 
text " Peace be unto you ; as my Father hath sent 
me, even so send I you," he became an ardent 
coworker with Spener in the work of reforming 

* Review of " Robert Elsmere " in Nineteenth Century, 
by Rt. Hon. Wm. E. Gladstone. 



GENERAL SCHEME. 71 

the life of the German church. Their method 
of using the Bible was based on the right pre- 
supposition that the Scriptures are intended for 
the awakening of the heart and the sanctifica- 
tion of the life as well as for the instruction of 
the understanding. A long controversy was 
carried on between the Dogmatists and the 
Pietists, as the followers of Spener and Francke 
were called. The watchword of the one was 
" The Church and the Creed " ; of the other, 
"The Individual and the Life." The one held 
by the Confession ; the other, by the Bible. The 
one looked to the Church ordinances as a 
means of quickening; the other, to the Holy 
Spirit. Ultimately, however, Pietism ignored 
the historical character of the Sacred Writings, 
neglected the various helps by means of which 
the sense of Scripture is to be reached, con- 
founded true exegesis with mere application 
and hortatory suggestion, which is well enough 
in its place, and ended in the loss of its power 
and the introduction of Rationalism. But Piet- 
ism gave to Germany and to the world a Bengel 
and a Zinzendorf. 

5. The Rationalistic; opposed both- to the 
dogmatic and the degenerated Pietistic. It 
originated with J. S. Semler, a German theolo- 
gian who died in 1791, though he was not 
himself an avowed Rationalist. It regarded 
moral amelioration as the aim of Scripture, 



72 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

which view was opposed, on the one hand, to 
the dead dogmatic use of it in the hands of the 
so-called " Orthodox " party, and the loose 
hortatory and mystical use in the hands of 
many of the Pietists. It proceeded upon the 
view that the Scriptures must be interpreted 
historically, and so far it was correct in part. 
But it also proceeded to assert that the Bible 
was meant to teach nothing but the Religion 
of " Reason,'' by which it meant something 
more than that the religion of the Bible is a 
reasonable religion. It forgot that " reason " is 
imperfect and changeable ; and that it varies its 
demands according to the age, popular spirit, 
the individuality of the exegete, and the atti- 
tude of the heart toward God. It gradually 
disputed the necessity of, and the cognizability 
of, a supernatural revelation, and saw the 
essence of religion only in that which human 
reason can grasp — chiefly in morality. Such 
miracles as it could not explain away as mere 
natural occurrences it rejected as myths. 

" What it could not handle no man could ; 
What it could not grasp was sheer nonentity ; 
What it could not account for could not be ; 
What its scales had not weighed could have no weight ; 
What it had not stamped could never circulate." 

For the profoundest and most Christian 
thoughts, such as have renewed the human 
heart and the world, rationalism has never had 



GENERAL SCHEME. 73 

any appreciation ; and the greatest benefit 
which it has-been to Christianity is one that 
has come indirectly and for which the rational- 
istic method deserves no credit ; the benefit to 
which we refer was not the thing at which it 
aimed.* 

6. The Apologetic and Super naturalistic. — 
In its apologetic form this method was opposed 
to the critical speculative spirit born of the 
philosophy of Fichte, Schelling, Kant, and 
Hegel, the theological representatives of which 
were Strauss, F. C. Baur, and others. In its 
supernaturalistic form it was opposed to the 
rationalistic exegesis. The ranks of the oppo- 
sition to the theological and exegetical ration- 
alism of a century ago embraced such names as 
Storr, Flatt, Knapp, Hengstenberg, Neander, 
Harms, and others. The contest is yet waging, 
the central point now being the date, or dates, 
of the Pentateuch and the structure of the 
Israelitish history. To American students and 
to the American Church the echoes are becom- 
ing more and more audible. To those who see 
the question involved only in itself, and not in 
its relations to other matters, it may not seem 
to be one of any practical importance. But it 

* The moral interpretation of Kant, the Psvchologico- 
historical system of Paulus and Eichhorn, the accommo- 
dation system, usually attributed to Semler as its author, 
and the mythic of Wegscheider, Gabler and others, are all 
forms of the rationalistic. 



74 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

is. Neither the individual nor the church can 
have life unless there be a prior and basal faith. 
7. The Spiritualistic ; sometimes called the 
Theosophical, or Mystic. It rightly affirms that 
the divine Scriptures can be understood only 
by the Divine Spirit. In order to be under- 
stood it must be read and explained in the 
spirit in which it was written. " It is the heart," 
says Neander, "which makes the theologian. " 
Nor can he interpret the Scriptures aright whose 
heart is not in unison with the Scriptures. He 
alone can interpret well who prays well. " The 
Scripture cannot be rightly, and spiritually com- 
prehended unless the Spirit of God becomes 
the interpreter of his words/' "Open Thou 
mine eyes that I may behold wonderous things 
out of thy law," was the prayer of the Psalm- 
ist. But the spiritualistic method has also had 
its perversions in the form of idle reverie and 
willful neglect of the means necessary to a 
thorough and assured understanding of the 
Scriptures ; and instead of following our Lord's 
own injunction to search the Scriptures, has, in 
the hands of some, contented itself simply with 
asserting. It is the perversion, rather than its 
right elements, which gives name to this method, 
and as such it partakes more of the nature of 
heathen theosophy or the theurgy of the Egyp- 
tian Platonists, than of exegesis. The Holy 
Spirit is indispensable, but he helps those only 



GENERAL SCHEME. 75 

who use the means which God himself has 
appointed. He who has a proper reverence 
for the Word of God, which it is his duty to 
know for himself and for others also, will be too 
conscientious to neglect any of these means, 
justifying his idleness by the sinful apology of 
depending alone on God's Spirit. The histori- 
cal prince of this class of exegetes, if such they 
may be called, was Jacob Boehme, born at 
Gorlitz, in Upper Lusatia, 1575. He had four 
" extasies," or " seasons of inward light," and 
the record of his profound though singular and 
extravagant dreams, makes many volumes. He 
regarded these as Divine revelations. He meant 
well, was the means of calling thousands to self- 
examination, and "taught his nation that con- 
troversy was not the path to success or immor- 
tality." But this only shows that God can use 
such instruments, and that under extraordinary 
circumstances it is his will to do so.* 

8. The Grammatico-Historical; or that meth- 
od which incorporates the rules of grammar 
and the facts of History, in so far as they may 
bear upon the passage in hand, into one system. 
It seeks the sense of Scripture by means of the 
usual principles of language as applied to the 
book or section under consideration, and in the 

* An English translation of Martensen's Life and 
Teaching of Jacob Boehme may be had through Scribner 
& Welford, New York. 



76 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY. 

light of the various historical circumstances of 
the author and of those to whom his writing 
was primarily addressed. It recognizes that the 
Bible as a whole and in its parts is an historical 
product, and, though divine in its origin and 
contents, that it was written by men in human 
languages and in human relations. " The words 
of Scripture/' says Dr. Charles Hodge, "are to 
be taken in their plain historical sense ; that 
is, in the sense attached to them in the age and 
by the people to whom they were addressed. 
This only assumes that the sacred writers were 
honest, and meant to be understood ";* and 
this is in thorough harmony with the fact that 
they are to be interpreted under the guidance 
of the Holy Spirit, humbly and earnestly 
sought. The book that did most, perhaps, to 
introduce this method to the attention of Bibli- 
cal interpreters was the work of J. A. Ernesti 
entitled " Institutio Interprets," first published 
in 1 761. It was introduced to American stu- 
dents by Prof. Moses Stuart, a fourth edition of 
his abbreviated translation being published at 
Andover in 1841. The best English transla- 
tion, however, of this work is said to be that of 
Terrot, Edinburgh, 1843, m two small volumes. 
The general recognition of this method of in- 
terpretation by all grades of Bible students has 

* Systematic Theology, vol. i, page 187. 



GENERAL SCHEME. 77 

given rise to many works not only on the lan- 
guages of the Bible, but also on Biblical and 
Oriental Antiquities. Progress along one line 
of Bible study renders necessary progress along 
other lines. 

D. As to the History of Exegesis, we may 
have various analyses, or plans of study. The 
following may serve at least a tentative purpose : 

i . The Jewish Exegesis ; considered 

(i) In its origin — Ezra and the scribes prior 
to the New Testament times; the Pharisaic and 
Sadducean Exegesis, and the rise of Rabbin- 
ism. The influence of these types on the con- 
tents and form of the New Testament. 

(2) The Rabbinical Exegesis. The two cen- 
ters were Palestine and Babylon. We may 
have here the following subdivisions : 

(a) The Halachic Exegesis ; which restricted 
itself to the Mosaic Law, and the result of its 
work is the Mishna. It may be said to have 
occupied the same place with respect to Juda- 
ism as the Justinian Codes with respect to the 
Roman Empire ; it was its corpus juris. This 
collection of Rabbinical commentaries on the 
Law was completed and arranged about 200 
A. D. at Tiberias in Palestine. The Gemara 
was a commentary on the Mishna. A com- 
mentary was called a Midrash. 



78 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

(b) The Hagadic Exegesis; which occupied 
itself for the most part with mere homilies and 
moral fables on the entire Old Testament. The 
subsequent collection of these various commen- 
taries, or Midrashim, on the Law and other 
parts of the Old Testament, together with the 
commentaries on these commentaries, consti- 
tuted the Talmud. There were two Talmuds 
(or Talmudim), the Palestinian and the Baby- 
lonian; the first was completed about 360 
A. D., the other about 490 A. D. Prof. 
Delitzsch calls the Talmud a " polynomial co- 
lossus," . . . "a vast debating club in which 
there hum confusedly the myriad voices of at 
least five centuries. ,, It is an enormous monu- 
ment of Jewish patience and industry. 

(c) The Qabbalistic Exegesis;* which dealt 
chiefly in " mysteries," or absurd guesses arid 
speculations concerning creation (cosmogony), 
Divine Illumination (theosophy), and magic 
(thaumaturgy). The origin and date of Qabbal- 
ism are unknown. It reached its culmination 
about 1200 A. D. 

(d) The non-Qabbalistic Exegesis, repre- 
sented in the literal and rationalistic Jewish 
commentaries of the Middle Ages. Eminent 
among these are Jarchi (Rashi), Judah Hallevi, 
Aben Ezra, Maimonides, and Kimchi. 

*The word is also spelled Kabbala, Cabbala, Cabala. 



GENERAL SCHEME. 79 

(3) The Alexandrian Exegesis, represented 
in the Hellenistic Jews of Alexandria, among 
whom Philo was the most prominent. Of this 
school there were (a) The Literalists, who con- 
strued the words of Scripture chiefly in accord- 
ance with the natural sense ; (b) The Rational- 
ists, or those who renounced Judaism ; (c) The 
Allegorists, who regarded the words of the text 
as allegorical. This last was by far the most 
prominent phase of the Alexandrian exegesis, 
and its leading exponent was the famous Philo. 
From him the early Christians who were under 
the Alexandrian influence borrowed it. 

2. The Apostolic and Early Post-Apostolic 
Exegesis. Here we may have 

(1) The use made by the New Testament 
writers of quotations and citations from the 
Old Testament, as, for example, Matt, i, 22, 23 ; 
ii, 15; ii, 18; viii, 17; xiii, 35, and various other 
passages. 

(2) The Rabbinical (?) and Allegorical (?) Exe- 
gesis of Paul ; e.g., Gal. iii, 16 ; iv, 24 f. 

(3) The Exegesis of the Apostolic Fathers ; of 
which we have numerous glimpses in the ex- 
tant writings of Clement of Rome, " Mathetes," 
the pseudo Barnabas, Ignatius and others. 

3. The Patristic Exegesis, as it appears in 
(1) The Literal and Realistic school, of which 



80 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

Tertullian and Cyprian may be taken as the 
representatives. 

(2) The Allegorical school ; represented by 
Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Hilary, Am- 
brose, Dionysius of Alexandria, Julius Afri- 
canus, Ephraim Syrus, and others. 

(3) The Historico-grammatical school ; of 
which Diodorus of Tarsus, Theodore of Mops- 
uetia, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Greg- 
ory Nazianzus, Chrysostom and Jerome, may 
be regarded as representatives. Augustine ranks 
foremost as a writer and theologian, but not as 
an exegete. 

4. The Mediceval Exegesis. Here we may 
arrange into four groups as follows : 

(1) The Catenistic Exegesis ; under which 
head we may include such exegetical work as 
was done from the 6th to the nth or 12th cen- 
tury. It may be regarded as a period of transi- 
tion from the patristic to the age of scholastic 
theology ; a time of intense and general igno- 
rance. The exegesis of this period consisted of 
compilations of extracts from the writings of 
the Fathers of the preceding centuries, particu- 
larly of Chrysostom and Augustine. 

(2) The Scholastic Exegesis. " Scholasticism 
sought rationally to elucidate and develop the- 
ology " (Kurtz). Its first great representative 
may be said to have been Fulbert, Bishop of 



GENERAL SCHEME. 81 

Chartres. Others were Anselm of Canterbury, 
William of Champeaux, who was the founder 
of the University of Paris, Abelard, Albertus 
Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas. These and 
others of the same school wrote commentaries 
on one or more of the books of the Bible, 
which, however, never came into the hands of 
the people. This period extended over about 
four centuries, and was characterized by bitter 
and interminable controversies. 

(3) The Mystic Exegesis. " It was the ob- 
ject of Mysticism to apprehend the salvation 
offered by the church, not by means of the in- 
tellect, but by the feelings, and to develop it 
not by dialectics, but by inward contemplation." 
(Kurtz). The great names here are Bernard of 
Clairvaux, the semi-mystic Hugo of St. Victor, 
known by his contemporaries as " alter Augus- 
tinus"; Richard and Walter St. Victor, Eckhart, 
John Tauler, Henry Suso, John Staupitz, the 
spiritual father of Luther, Thomas a Kempis, to 
whom is generally ascribed the well-known book 
on " The Imitation of Christ," John Charlier of 
Gerson. Others of this period, whose influence 
lived long after them, were Roger Bacon, who 
not only pointed out the dangers of Scholasti- 
cism, but also insisted on the necessity of study- 
ing the Scriptures in the original ; Robert, the 
celebrated founder of the Sorbonne, who, in 
opposition to his scholastic surroundings, ear- 
4 



82 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

nestly recommended his many pupils and hearers 
to prosecute zealously the study of the Scrip- 
tures ; Hugo of St. Caro, who published a com- 
mentary on the whole Bible, a Concordance, 
and to whom also we are said to owe the pres- 
ent division of our Bible into chapters ; and 
Nicholas of Lyra, who was the first to apply 
Hebrew and Greek learning to the actual exe- 
gesis of the Scriptures. 

5. The Reformation and Early Post Refor- 
mation Exegesis. Here we may group as fol- 
lows: 

(1) The influence of the revival of learning 
(Humanism) on Biblical Study. Lorenzo Valla, 
who may claim the honor of being one of the 
earliest founders of the Science of textual 
criticism. Le Fevre, who made a Latin trans- 
lation of Paul's Epistles, and published the 
first French version of the entire Scriptures 
(1523). John Wessel, the teacher of Reuchlin, 
and of whom Luther said: "If I had read 
Wessel first, mine adversaries might have imag- 
ined that I had taken everything from Wessel." 
John Reuchlin, who was one of the principal 
promoters of Hebrew learning in his day, pub- 
lishing a grammar, a lexicon, and a work on 
the accents. Erasmus, the brilliant humanist 
of whom it has been said that in his person 
Greece rose from the dead with the New Testa- 



GENERAL SCHEME. 83 

ment in her hand. He published several edi- 
tions of the Greek Testament. 

(2) The German (or Lutheran) Exegesis. 
Luther, the first and greatest representative of 
this period, though not the greatest exegete. 
Melanchthon, the most learned of the reform- 
ers. Bugenhagen, Bucer, Musculus, Brenz, 
Chemnitz, are other eminent Lutheran exegetes, 
all of whom were learned in Hebrew and Greek. 
Michaelis. 

(3) The Swiss (or Reformed) Exegesis. Here 
belongs first of all Calvin, the foremost exegete 
of the Reformation. Zwingli, distinguished for 
his love of classical culture and scientific study 
of the Scriptures. CEcolampadius, who was to 
Zwingli what Melanchthon was to Luther. 
Bullinger, the author of the second Helvetic 
Confession ; one of the most learned and im- 
portant of the Swiss Reformers, and mediator 
between Calvin and Zwingli. The Buxtorfs, 
Beza, Turretin. 

(4) The Dutch Exegesis. Arminius, Grotius, 
Cocceius, Schulteus, Drusius, Leusden. 

(5) The British Exegesis. Hammond, Light- 
foot, Patrick, Lowth, Arnold, Whitby, Lowman, 
Henry, Doddridge, Baxter, Poole, etc. 

6. Recent Exegesis. (1) On the Continent. 
Calmet, Rosenmuller, Baumgarten, Bengel, 
Hengstenberg, Tholuck, Olshausen, Knoble, 



84 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGY. 

Delitzsch, Keil, Meyer, Lange, Van Oosterzee, 
etc. (2) British. Macknight, Clark, Benson, 
Scott, Bloomfield, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, 
Davidson, Cheyne, Spurgeon. (3) American. 
Moses Stuart, Barnes, Cowles, Alexander, 
Schaff, Hodge, Shedd, Whedon, Abbott. 

Some such historical working up of the sub- 
ject as the above plan suggests, our studies be- 
ing centred about the leading exegetes of the 
several periods respectively, would not involve 
a lapping over of any of the parts on phases of 
the subject already discussed under other heads, 
as "A" and " B." If in discussing the history 
of the Patristic exegesis, for example, we should 
find it to be largely allegorical, it would not de- 
volve upon us to discuss again the nature of the 
allegorical method ; but from our previous study 
of its nature we should be only so much the 
better prepared to understand it as illustrated 
in the exegetical writings of the Fathers. It 
is the province of exegesis historically consid- 
ered to exhibit the amount of exegetical work 
done in any given period, together with the 
principles underlying it, the method or methods, 
according to which it was wrought out, the 
state of religion which it presupposes, its effect 
on the life of the Church, etc.; but with the 
principles and methods in themselves exegesis 
historically considered has nothing to do. 



GENERAL SCHEME. 85 

III. Christian Theology. 

Having presented schemes, or outlines, of 
preparatory study, we come, in the next place, 
to Christian Theology itself, the principal 
divisions and subdivisions being as follows : 

I. Biblical Theology of the Old Testament; 
or, Christian Theology in its Old Testament 
aspects. Under this we should have 

(i) Old Testament History ; without special 
reference to the doctrinal contents of the Bible, 
but with special reference to the facts. 

(2) Old Testament History ; with special 
reference to its leading facts and their signifi- 
cance, the Old Testament being regarded as 
the history of a Divine progress toward a pre- 
conceived and preordained Divine end ; viz., 
the redemption of the world. This is Old 
Testament Theology in its historical section; 
the Divine teaching exhibited in life and facts. 

(3) Old Testament Dogmatics ; or the pre- 
sentation of the doctrines of the Old Testa- 
ment in the order of their revelation. The 
historical section, dealing with the life and 
facts of any given period, should be studied 
and presented in connection with the doctrinal 
status of the same period, and thus the Old 
Testament be rightly regarded as the history 
of a revelation in progress, and not merely as 

, the record of a revelation completed. 



86 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY. 

2. Biblical Theology of the New Testament; 
or, Christian Theology in its New Testament 
aspects. Under this head we should have the 
same specifications as above: 

(i) The facts, simply, of the New Testament 
History grouped in their proper relations to 
each other. 

(2) The leading facts considered in their 
proper order of sequence with special reference 
to their significance as bearing upon the one 
great Divine intention of Revelation — Re- 
demption ; the Divine teaching as presented 
concretely, in the first place. Here, also, the 
historical sections are to be distributed to their 
proper chronological places in the order of the 
development. 

(3) New Testament Dogmatics; or the pre- 
sentation of the doctrines of the New Testa- 
ment in the order of their revelation and growth. 

The further subdivisions of Biblical The- 
ology, and the proper places for the various 
historical and doctrinal sections, appear as the 
study is developed by the student himself. 
Old Testament theology and New Testament, 
and, indeed, the following principal branches, 
should each have its own introduction, or Pro- 
legomenon, even though this should render it 
necessary to repeat some matters which have 
been stated in the introduction to another 



GENERAL SCHEME. 87 

branch, or in some work devoted especially to 
Theological Encyclopaedia and Methodology. 
In such prolegomenon, besides the history and 
present state of the science, various initial 
questions may be briefly discussed, and at least 
provisionally settled ; as, for instance, an im- 
portant preliminary may be the question of 
method, or with what prepossessions may we 
pursue our studies of the subject ; and hence, 
if our science be Biblical theology, a brief 
introductory discussion of the possibility and 
probability of a supernatural revelation might 
not be out of place. It devolves on the pro- 
legomenon of a science to discuss its own 
sources as such, and as the Bible is the source 
of Biblical theology, and at least one of the 
sources of Christian Dogmatics, it belongs to 
the prolegomenon of these to treat the subject 
of inspiration. 

3. Post-Biblical Theology ; or, Christian The- 
ology as exhibited in the life and teaching of 
the Church. Here our divisions are as follows: 

(1) The Historical Section; which treats of 
the outward development of the Kingdom of 
God in the Church, and of the contents of 
that development as it exists from time to time 
in the consciousness of the Church. This 
gives us, therefore, the two subdivisions: 

(a) External Church History; or, rather, 



88 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

external ecclesiastical history, beginning with 
the close of the canon, the Church within the 
scope of the canon being already included 
above. Here we have the life, deeds, affairs of 
the post-Biblical Church as exhibited (e. g.) 

(a) In its struggles with the world. 

(b) In its institutions and customs. 

(c) In its charities. 

(d) In its ever varying statistics, social, 
numerical, and geographical. 

(b) Internal Church History; or the history 
of church thought, as exhibited (e. g.) 

(a) In the history of the development of 
doctrines. 

(b) In the formation of the great creeds; 
Historical Symbolics. 

(2) The Doctrinal Section; or, Systematic 
Theology, which deals with the present state of 
Christendom in its external and internal aspects. 
History ceases at the threshold of the present. 
This section, therefore, treats the doctrines of 
Christendom, not only in themselves but also 
in their social and geographical extension. We 
have the following subdivisions : 

(a) Ecclesiastical Statistics ; the object of 
which is to exhibit the present social, numeri- 
cal, and geographical status of Christendom; 
that is, it includes also the statistics of the 
various missionary fields in heathen lands. 



GENERAL SCHEME. 89 

(b) Christian Dogmatics; the object of 
which is to present the doctrinal views of the 
entire Church, or of one of its parts, and not 
of the individual writer. The views are sup- 
posed to be based upon at least a reasonable 
construction of the Word of God, for as held 
by Protestants Christian Dogmatics places the 
main stress on the teachings of the Scriptures, 
and only a secondary emphasis on ecclesiastical 
tradition. It admits of various analyses, or 
methods of treatment. A common and natu- 
ral one begins with (i) Theology proper, or the 
doctrine of God and his relation to the world as 
Creator, Governor, and Preserver; and proceeds 
to (2) Anthropology, or the doctrine of man, 
including also the doctrine of sin ; (3) Chris- 
tology, or the doctrine of Christ's Person ; (4) 
Soteriology, or the doctrine of the work of 
Christ ; (5) Pneumatology, or the doctrine of the 
work of the Holy Spirit; (6) Ecclesiology, or 
the doctrine concerning the church ; (7) Eschatol- 
ogy, or the doctrine concerning the Resurrection, 
final judgment, etc. (Last Things). At the outset 
of Christian Dogmatics belongs Bibliology, or 
the doctrine of the Church concerning the 
Holy Scriptures, their revelation, inspiration, 
etc., together with the "traditions," or Roman 
Catholic and Protestant doctrines of the Rule 
of Faith. Perhaps no more satisfactory scheme 
than this ancient and usual one can be devised, 



90 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGY, 

though it lacks the advantage of getting prop- 
erly before us the central thought of God's 
revelation of himself to the world, viz.: the 
Divine purpose of redemption, and hence fails 
to exhibit clearly the unity of the different 
parts of the system. 

(c) Christian Ethics (Moral theology), in its 
general, social, and individual aspects. The 
Highest Good, Virtue, Law, the various duties 
to God which devolve upon man in view of the 
relations in which he stands toward God as 
exhibited in Christian Dogmatics; life under 
the law ; life in following Christ ; the Christian 
in his relation to Family, State, Church, Gene- 
ral Culture, Property, Oaths, etc. Like other 
sciences, Christian ethics, while its fundamental 
principles are always the same, is constantly 
receiving new accretions of subject-matter — 
and is constantly in need of new adjustments 
in order that it may meet, in part at least, the 
ever-varying demands of an ever-varying civi- 
lization. A few years ago the questions of 
temperance reform, capital and labor, Com- 
munism, Socialism, etc., had not assumed such 
proportions as to entitle them to a prominent 
place in the list of topics which may properly 
fall within the sphere of Christian ethics.* 

* The American Sunday School Union has recently 
issued a valuable work on "The Christian Unity of Capi- 
tal and Labor." 



GENERAL SCHEME. 91 

{d) Comparative Dogmatics (Symbolics); or 
the study of the contents of the creeds, whereas 
Historical Symbolics studies rather their his- 
torical formation. Here belong (i) Polemics, 
or the study of the doctrinal differences, the 
object of which is to reprove error and to pre- 
sent the "unimpared rule of doctrine in oppo- 
sition to dogmatical perversions." (2) Irenics, 
or the study of doctrinal harmonies, the object 
of which is to promote Christian unity ; not by 
concealing the differences and pretending that 
there are none, but rather by seeing both the 
differences and agreements in their true pro- 
portions and relations, and in catholicity of 
spirit. 

(e) Theoretical Apologetics; the object of 
which is to show (1) the possibility of a super- 
natural religion, (2) that Christianity is such a 
religion, and the only one, and that therefore 
it is (3) the religion for all times and peoples. 
In its popular form it is the " Evidences of 
Christianity," in so far as these evidences are 
not drawn from a consideration of the effects of 
Christianity on the individual and the world. 
Christianity in its effects, is Christianity exhib- 
ited as life, and in our scheme finds its place 
under Practical Theology. 

It will be seen from the above outline that 
Systematic Theology, the second general divi- 



92 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

sion of Post-Biblical theology, comprehends a 
vast range of subjects, each of which is too 
extensive to be treated in a thorough and sat- 
isfactory manner otherwise than separately. 
The books denominated " Systematic The- 
ology" usually embrace but a small part of 
what properly belongs under that head, being 
generally restricted to what German writers 
more properly call " Dogmatics.'* But while 
Systematic Theology in general, and Christian 
Dogmatics in particular, obtains its data from 
the Bible, it discusses its subjects rather from 
the standpoint of the creeds and the writer's 
own time, whereas Biblical Theology abides in 
the Bible times, and classifies and discusses the 
results of Biblical exegesis without reference to 
the creeds • or to the present wants of the 
church or the times. Biblical Theology seeks 
the truth and the facts, and leaves it to other 
branches of theological science to make the 
applications. Anthropology (e. g.) as treated 
in Biblical Theology would not be identical 
in all respects with the same as treated in 
Christian Dogmatics. So with other subjects. 
The term " Ecclesiology," however, has been 
used with a greater degree of latitude, and 
hence of vagueness ; designating, as it has been 
made to do, not only the science of church 
architecture and decoration, and the doctrine 
of the Scriptures, or of the Church concerning 



GENERAL SCHEME. 93 

the Church, but also the polity and methods of 
the Church as distinguished from the Church 
itself. As a discussion of doctrine, it belongs, 
as we have seen, to Dogmatics ; as a discussion 
of method, it is a part of Practical Theology. 
The study of the subject in the former aspect 
logically precedes, and is the basis of, its dis- 
cussion in the latter aspect. He cannot have 
an intelligent and well-grounded theory con- 
cerning church polity, who has not first an 
intelligent and well-grounded theory concern- 
ing the Church itself, its function, mission, 
nature, etc. 

4. Christian Theology in its applications; or, 
Practical Theology. 

It connects the science of religion with its 
practical forms ; or in other words, it discusses 
the various branches of ministerial and church 
work and the different means and methods of 
executing them. Its sphere is that of church 
activities — Christianity in its various forms of 
concrete embodiment and life. The following 
are its principal branches : 

(1) Homiletics; which discusses the nature, 
form, style, material, and delivery of the sermon, 
and its relations to the preacher and the people. 
As it treats both the composition and delivery 
of sermons, it embraces both the theory of 
preaching and sacred rhetoric. 



94 THE STUDT OF THKQLOGT. 

(2) Catechetics; which has to do with the in- 
troduction of persons, whether children or 
adults, into the Christian Church, and there- 
fore with the imparting of religious instruction 
and nurture as necessarily preliminary thereto, 
and also necessary thereafter to Christian 
growth. This is the duty of the parent and 
also of the pastor, and it is a duty which can- 
not, with impunity, be transferred wholly to 
the Sunday school.* The lambs in years and 
the lambs in Christian experience and strength 
should be nurtured tenderly and diligently; 
and the subject-matter of this nurture, and 

* " I do not understand how a teacher [or pastor] can 
die in peace who has not been diligent in the work of 
chatechising," (Brackel.) " He who scatters the seed 
of Christianity in the heart of a child trains a plant 
for the paradise of God," (Borger.) Quoted by Van 
Oosterzee. 

Of the more than 50,000,000 persons in the United 
States, about two-thirds are under thirty years of age, 
about one-half are under twenty, and about one-third are 
under ten, as shown by the census of 1880. " If we con- 
sider these facts," says an editorial in the Nashville Chris- 
tian Advocate, "we must see that a ministry which is not 
mainly addressed to the young is misdirected. It is not 
sufficient to say of any preacher, or other public teacher, 
that he does not utterly ignore this fact. He must keep 
it always before his eyes, and the matter and manner of 
his speech must be very much affected by it." Of the 
33,000,000 of our population now under thirty years old, 
20,000,000 will die within the next ten years, and of the 
remaining 13,000,000 many will have grown hard almost 
beyond recovery. If we would save the world we must 
hasten. 



GENERAL SCHEME. 95 

especially its methods, belong to the sphere of 
Catechetics. 

(3) The Sunday School; the work of which 
does not displace, but is parallel with, the 
teaching work of parent and pastor. It includes 
within its scope, not only the young and inex- 
perienced in religious life, but also all grades 
and ages. The Sunday school has not usually 
been treated as belonging to the domain of 
Practical Theology, but it is more and more 
coming into such recognition, and its origin, 
history, methods and functions, should have a 
place in the theological curriculum.* 

(4) Pastoral Theology ; or, Poimenics, from 
the Greek word signifying a shepherd. This 
treats, by way of introduction, of the call and 
qualifications of the ministry, and of his set- 

* " It is even now recognized as a serious question 
whether a young man who is in preparation for the minis- 
try can afford to be outside of the influence of this Bible- 
studying movement during his undergraduate years in 
college and in seminary ; and whether the provisions in 
these schools of preparation are yet such" as to send from 
them into the ministry men furnished with Bible know- 
ledge, and with a knowledge of methods of Bible teach- 
ings, in that measure which will bring them abreast, at the 
start, of the Bible students whom they are likely to find, 
in the communities to which they go, as the product of the 
agencies and influences now operative outside ot the pre- 
paratory schools." Trumbull's Tale Lecture on the Sun- 
day School. Such works as this and "Teaching and 
Teachers" by the same author, ought to be in the list of 
text-books in Practical Theology to be diligently studied 
by every young man in preparation for the ministry. 



96 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

tlement over a church or parish; and then, of 
the pastor in his study, in the pulpit, in his 
relations to his people and to the people gene- 
rally ; his personal disposition, habits, etc. ; and 
his relations to the various benevolences and 
sacraments of the church, as well as to the dif- 
ferent forms of social and church activity, such 
as the prayer meeting, special revival seasons, 
the Sunday school, etc. 

(5) Liturgies ; which treats of the methods 
and principles of the public service of the sanc- 
tuary, both the regular and special, as the burial 
service, the rite of baptism, the induction of 
members, the administration of the Lord's Sup- 
per, etc. The subject should be studied in its 
nature, aim, history, principles, and methods. 
It is possible for the service of the sanctuary to 
be too elaborate and formal ; it is possible also 
for it to be too bald. Both pastor and people 
should have an intelligent and appreciative un- 
derstanding of the subject.* 

* No candid man can blame the non-Conformists of 
England, or the Presbyterians of Scotland, if their sad 
experience of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny in enforcing 
an obnoxious prayer-book, led them to the extreme of 
denouncing the use of all forms. That one extreme pro- 
duces another is the tritest of aphorisms. The extreme of 
insisting that certain forms should alone be used, begat the 
extreme of insisting that no forms should be allowed. It 
is obvious, however, to the candid, that between these 
extremes there is a wide and safe middle ground." — Prince- 
ton Review, July, 1855. 



GENERAL SCHEME. 97 

(6) Church Polity,- or Church Politics, Prac- 
tical Ecclesiology. Under this head are dis- 
cussed the several forms of church government, 
as Prelaticism, Congregationalism, Presbyter- 
ianism, and thfcir modifications ; together with 
the various machinery by means of which, and 
the various methods according to which, each, 
respectively, is administered; the relation of 
the Church creed to the Church organization; 
the sacraments and ordinances; the member- 
ship; the church officers, etc. The principles 
underlying church government in general with- 
out reference to the form belong rather to the 
sphere of Dogmatics. The doctrine concern- 
ing the Church, both in its dogmatical and 
practical aspects, is a very important one, and 
both ministry and laity should know well their 
relations to the government of the Church and 
live in harmony with it. Liberty is not license. 

(7) Hymnology ; which treats of hymns as a 
species of sacred composition, as distinguished 
from other forms of sacred poetry. It includes 
the subject of Psalmody. It discusses the dif- 
ferent kinds of hymns, the essential elements 
of a good hymn, the authorship and history of 
particular hymns, the subject-matter, the form, 
adaptation to public or private use ; hymnology, 
or hymn collections. Hymnology should be 
studied in its history, which is a storehouse of 
the richest and deepest experiences of the 



98 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

Christian life in all ages. Ancient Oriental and 
Greek hymns; Ancient Latin hymns; Medi- 
aeval hymns ; German hymns, etc. Many of 
all these are accessible to the student, not only 
in their original form but also in metrical trans- 
lations. 

(8) Church Music ; which includes the his- 
torical study of the whole subject of sacred 
music; the primitive Christian music; the 
Ambrosian, the Gregorian, the early Protestant 
Lutheran and Reformed; the introduction and 
use of instruments; the choir; the adaptation 
of music to words ; the amount of time to be 
devoted to the musical part of the service; 
song-services, etc. 

(9) Evange lis tics ; or Home and Foreign, and 
all itinerant and local, Missions, except the 
settled pastoral work. It includes the study 
of the theory of missions, the history of mis- 
sions, the methods of conducting missionary 
activity, and also as much of statistics as is 
necessary to give one a clear view of the 
present state of religion in the missionary 
fields. The subject of Missions, or Halieutics 
as it is sometimes called, is already fast assum- 
ing its proper place of prominence in Theolog- 
ical Science. Nor should the study of missions 
as a part of the theological curriculum be by 
any means restricted to those who expect to 
engage in the missionary work among pagans 



GENERAL SCHEME. 99 

and Mohammedans. The cause of missions is 
the cause of the pastor and of the congrega- 
tion ; and the amount of interest which both 
pastor and people will feel and manifest in this 
cause will depend to a great extent on the 
amount of knowledge which they have of it. 
Even where the congregation itself is not 
wanting in interest in missions, this interest 
gains in unity, strength, and enthusiasm, where 
it is guided by the firm and intelligent hand of 
the pastor who knows whereof he speaks."* 

(10) Practical Apologetics ; distinguished 
from Theoretical Apologetics; the self-vindi- 
cation of Christianity, or Christianity speaking 
in its practical effects upon the world and in 

* That which is best to be done is not always that 
which it is practicable to do. If all the Christian denomi- 
nations in any Christian country should have one common 
board of missions, and through this one board work with 
unanimity simply to make Christians of the heathen, the 
evangelization of the world would doubtless be greatly 
hastened. Being converted, they might be organized on 
some basis and under some name not known to them in 
any of our denominational senses. " Mission work would 
gain immensely," says Van Oosterzee, "if it aimed less 
at making Reformed Church, Old Lutheran, Baptist and 
other kinds of converts, and was zealous only to bring the 
simple Apostolic credo into the hearts and heads of 
heathen and Mohammedans. Those things which divide 
professors of the Gospel they will quickly enough dis- 
cover, perhaps within their own circle ; about that which 
unites all who love Christ and Christianity, we must be 
supremely, nay, exclusively, concerned. Here, too, the say- 
ing is true, ' A drop of life is worth a sea of knowledge.' " 



100 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

the individual experience. Here the argument 
is based not upon the nature of Christianity, 
not chiefly upon fulfilled prophecies, nor upon 
the historical evidences of the truth of the 
Gospels, but rather upon^ the fruits of Christi- 
anity as exhibited in human civilization and 
life. It is, in short, a discussion of such meth- 
ods of vindication of the Christian religion as 
every pastor finds it necessary that he should 
be able to make. It holds a somewhat similar 
relation to Theoretical Apologetics that " pure 
mathematics" holds to mathematics applied to 
some practical purpose. It presents Christi- 
anity as justifying its claims by reason of what 
it does ; and the end at which it aims is peace. 



OTHER TERMS EMPLOTED. 101 



IV. 

OTHER TERMS EMPLOYED. 

Speculative Theology. 

VARIOUS other adjectives are sometimes pre- 
fixed to the term "theology," which have not 
been mentioned in the preceding pages, and for 
which no place seems to have been found in the 
above general scheme. All Christian theology, 
for example, is sometimes divided into Theoreti- 
cal and Practical, the term " theoretical " being 
suggested by the more usual term " practical," 
and used to designate Doctrinal Theology in its 
dogmatic and historical aspects. 

Other terms employed are speculative the- 
ology, mystic, rationalistic, natural theology, 
etc. But these terms are, for the most part, 
simply descriptive of the methods according to 
which the subject is treated. They indicate no 
distinct branch of theology. The same the- 
ology may be either speculative, or mystic, or 
rationalistic, according to the mode of treat- 
ment. The speculative method "assumes, in 



102 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

an a priori manner, certain principles, and 
from them undertakes to determine what is 
and what must be. It decides on all truth, or 
determines what is true, from the laws of the 
mind, or from axioms involved in the constitu- 
tion of the thinking principle within us." This 
method of dealing with the contents of the- 
ology has been quite prevalent during some 
periods of church history. The rationalistic 
and transcendental theologies are only phases 
of the speculative. In neither case do they 
admit of any higher source or test of truth 
than human reason. If Biblical Theology 
were treated from this standpoint it would be 
rationalistic or transcendental Biblical The- 
ology. 

Mystic Theology. 

If, on the other hand, a theology were con- 
structed on the assumption that " God, by his 
immediate intercourse with the soul, reveals 
through the feelings and by means, or in the 
way of, intuitions, divine truth independently 
of the outward teaching of his word ; and that 
it is this inward light, and not the Scriptures, 
which we are to follow"; such a system might 
properly be called a supernatural mystical the- 
ology. Or, if it were constructed on the 
assumption that " the natural religious con- 
sciousness of men, as excited and influenced by 



OTHER TERMS EMPLOYED. 103 

the circumstances of the individual," is the 
true source of religious knowledge, it might be 
called a natural mystical theology. Perhaps the 
greatest recent representative of the mystical 
theology was the German Schleiermacher, with 
whom Dogmatics was simply the contents of 
the Christian consciousness systematized, the 
essence of this consciousness being the feeling 
of absolute dependence which man has in the 
presence of the infinite problems of being and 
destiny. His contemporary, Daub, of Heidel- 
berg, was the great exponent in his day of the 
new speculative method. 

Natural Theology. 

In like manner, the term " natural," attached 
to the term theology, indicates a method and 
not a distinct branch of theology. In the 
hand of the Christian writer it is rather a 
species of Apologetics, drawing its evidences 
both from reason and nature. Works on 
" Rational Theism " are a kind of natural the- 
ology, which, so far as their standpoint and 
method are concerned, they might as properly 
be called. Rational Theism postulates, and 
bases its arguments upon certain necessary, or 
a priori, truths, and from the admitted consti- 
tution of mind and nature, reasons to its con- 
clusions. Works on Theodicy are constructed 
on the same speculative method and belong to 



104 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

the same class, being a species of so-called 
natural theology, and are apologetic in their 
aim. They vindicate from reason, rather than 
the Scriptures, as a point of departure, God's 
moral government of the world. 

The term " natural " theology is antithetical 
to the term " revealed " theology; the latter, 
like the former, indicating not a distinct the- 
ology, but simply a method ; or, in other words, 
it denotes that the material is drawn from the 
Word of God, rather than from reason and 
nature. 

Of the various branches of Christian The- 
ology, Biblical Theology in one or more of its 
chapters and aspects is attracting the most 
attention, perhaps, at the present time; and its 
investigation, if pursued in the spirit of honest 
inquiry, and the reverential recognition of the 
Scriptures as the Word of God, is destined to 
produce the best results. Theologically our 
age, happily, is irenical, Bible searching and 
truth seeking, in catholicity of spirit, rather 
than creed making, being its prominent charac- 
teristics. God grant that it may ever be so ; 
and yet, may he also grant that men may ever 
regard the Bible, not only as containing His 
Word, but in a certain true and important 
sense as being His Word. 



PERSONAL REQUISITES. 105 



V. 

PERSONAL REQUISITES TO THE STUDY. 

Experience. 

But there is one factor of theological study 
which cannot be catalogued. There must be 
personal convictions which are the outgrowth 
of inward and outward experiences of life. It 
is the heart in this sense also which makes the 
theologian. The true theology must have in it 
a large pectoral element ; it must be fostered 
by prayer, contemplation, inward enlighten- 
ment and sanctification. Ta7itum Deus cognos- 
citura quantum diligitur. 

Study is indispensable; but theology can 
never be mastered by study alone. Especially 
is it true of the dogmatical and ethical parts of 
theology that the mind can assimilate them 
and make them its own in the truest sense 
only by a process of earnest conflict. So it 
was with Paul, Augustine, Luther; so it has 
been with all great souls. Christianity cannot 
be treated fairly by him who stands aloof from 



106 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

it, and the nearer he stands to it the better for 
him as a theologian. It must be justified as a 
divine fact to the personal consciousness by 
personal experience, and the severer and 
keener the experience the better. Luther was 
greater than Melanchthon ; Augustine was 
greater than Ambrose. 

It is well to be thoroughly posted, but it is 
even more essential to be inwardly impressed. 
" He only who has experienced the sanctifying, 
purifying and elevating power of the gospel in 
his own being, who is constantly striving to 
attain to that Christian disposition in which 
the Christian virtues find a realization, — he 
only will be able to speak of a fruitful and 
blessed experience derived from the study of 
dogmatics and ethics. He only who internally 
participates in the weal or woe of the church is 
entitled to an opinion on these matters. With- 
out this, however great may be his outward 
learning and logical ability, he can only speak 
of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven as 
the blind may speak of color." And the 
writer of these words was not a mystic. Regen- 
eration cannot be understood merely by study- 
ing it psychologically or historically ; and the 
deepest experience of the soul in its union 
with Christ by faith must ever remain unintelli 
gible to those who have not themselves partaken 
of it. The question, " How wilt thou manifest 



PERSONAL REQUISITES. 107 

thyself unto us and not unto the world?" is 
still a question, and one which the outsider 
cannot answer. But in order that we may be 
in Christ, it is necessary that he should be in 
us rather than simply with us. So with the 
science of Christianity, which is Christian 
Dogmatics. 



^ A 



Purity of Heart and Life. 

The same holds of the departments of ethics, 
the study of which is attended with greatest 
profit only when personal moral growth keeps 
pace with the study. He only can know the 
power of conscience who has experienced its 
power ; he only can know wherein the might of 
love consists who has realized the might of 
love. " Measure your progress in philosophy," 
said Cousin to his thousands of pupils, " by 
your progress in tender veneration for the 
religion of the gospel ";* and true progress in 
theology, ethics, all learning, indeed, is to be 
measured by the same standard. The words 
of Cousin were no wiser in the dark days of 
France than they are now. 

He who studies theology should seek also to 
acquire more and more of the theological char- 
acter. Learning should be blended with de- 
voted piety, and intellectual with moral strength. 

* Preface to Lectures on the True, Beautiful and Good. 



108 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGY. 

The constant aim of the student should be to 
cultivate the heart as well as the head ; he 
should remain hung up neither in the science 
of language nor in the science of dialectics ; he 
should grow in grace as he grows in knowledge, 
seeking always to make his attainments condu- 
cive to his increased efficiency in the service of 
his fellow men through the service of his divine 
Lord. 

Prayerful and Reverent Spirit. 

"As a sacred and spiritual science, based on 
a divine revelation and concerned with the 
eternal interests of man, theology should be 
studied spiritually as well as intellectually, 
devoutly as well as thoughtfully, on the knees 

as well as behind the desk Only those 

who are pure in heart have the promise to see 
God ; the impure will always seek in darkness 
or worship idols. To make God simply an 
object of philosophical speculation, and logical 
analysis, is irreverent and profane, and leads to 
serious error. He is sought and found by med- 
itation and prayer rather than by ratiocination. 
Hence the old adage, "Bene orasse est bene 
studuisse."* He cannot study well who does 
not pray much. " Orando facilius quam dispu- 
tando et dignus Deus quaeritur et invenitur," is 

* Schaff 's Christ and Christianity. 



PERSONAL REQUISITES. 109 

old and true. It has been said by Pascal, that 
while human beings must be known before 
they can be admired and loved, divine things 
must be loved in order to be known ; and the 
saying is practically true, whatever may be 
said of the relations between our affections, our 
knowledge, and our faith. Tantum de veritate 
quisque potest videre, quantum ipse est. One 
can know the truth only in so far as he is true. 
But a wiser than Pascal or St. Bernard has taught 
that " whosoever shall not receive the kingdom 
of God as a little child shall in nowise enter 
therein." So of him who would enter the 
portals of theology.* 

Study with modesty and humility; study 
with independence of thought and freedom of 
inquiry ; study with enthusiasm and a profound 
reverence for the Scriptures as the Word of 
God, and for all that is sacred ; study w r ith 

*A11 the great truths of Theology may be learned by 
the mind, but if we have not an experience of religion 
they will remain in the intellect as dead dogmas, as cold 
and inoperative as a theorem in Geometry. It is when 
these doctrines are studied in a devotional spirit and 
fused into our own experience by prayer and meditation 
that they become living forces in our own hearts, and it is 
only when we are warmed and quickened and fired by 
these truths ourselves that we can send them out in our 
preaching as blazing arrows or burning forces to kindle 
and fire the hearts of others. Here, then, is the one quali- 
fication without which all other qualifications are useless 
— an experience of the power of religion in our own 
hearts." — Dr. Paxton, in Presbyterian Review, Jan. 1889. 



110 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGY. 

a sincere, constant, and ardent love of truth ; 
study with patience, caution and deliberation ; 
study diligently and prayerfully, remembering 
the old adage, Oratio, meditatio, tentatio, faci- 
unt theologum. 



LITERATURE. Ill 



VI. 

LITERATURE. 

Introductory. 

The following list of books and references is 
intended simply as a brief and easy guide to 
the less advanced class of students and readers. 
To those who may wish to pursue a further 
course the list here presented will at least fur- 
nish a hold upon the subjects and open the 
way to remoter sources. But the list would 
not have met the purpose for which it is in- 
tended had it included many books which are 
not accessible to the majority of English under- 
graduate students. To save space the names 
of publishers have been omitted, though 
perhaps all the books are yet in print, and 
may be procured through local booksellers 
or by personal correspondence with dealers. 
The titles are here classified under the prin- 
cipal topics given in our foregoing scheme, 
the names of the authors being generally writ- 
ten first. 



112 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

A. EXEGETICAL AND AUXILIARY. 
I. BIBLICAL INTRODUCTION. 

1. Biblical Archaeology. 

(i) Hurlbut; Manual of Biblical Geography. 

(2) Tristram: The Topography of the Holy 
Land. 

(3) Tristram: The Natural History of the 
Bible. 

(4) Thomson : The Land and the Book. 

(5) Bissell : Biblical Antiquities. 

(6) Keil : Biblical Archaeology. 

(7) Home (Ayre-Tregelles) : Introduction to 
the Holy Scriptures, vol. iii. 

(8) Schurer: The Jewish people in the time 
of Christ. 

(9) Stapfer: Palestine in the time of Christ. 
(An excellent work, but some of whose state- 
ments are to be received with caution, espe- 
cially in the last chapter, where Jesus seems to 
be spoken of as if he were only a man). 

2. Biblical Canonic s. 

(1) Schaff-Herzog: Cyclopedia, art. The 
Canon. 

(2) McClintock & Strong: Cyclopedia, art. 
Canon of Scripture. 

(3) Briggs: Biblical Study, pp. 105-138. 

(4) Harman : Introduction to the Holy Scrip- 
tures, pp. 33-41,488-500. 



LITER A TURE. • 113 

(5) Moses Stuart: History of the Old Tes- 
tament Canon. 

(6) Charteris: The New Testament Scrip- 
tures; their claims, history, etc. 

(7) Westcott: A General Survey of the His- 
tory of the Canon. 

(8) Reuss: History of the Canon of Holy 
Scripture. 

(9) Proof-Passages in the writings of the 
Ancient Fathers. 

3. Textual Criticism. 

(1) Briggs: Biblical Study, pp. 1 39-161. 

(2) Smith ; Bible Dictionary (Hackett's edi- 
tion), art. Bible. 

(3) Schaff-Herzog: Cyclopedia, art. Bible- 
Text and Versions. 

(4) McClintock & Strong: Cyclopedia, art. 
Criticism, and the cross-references. 

(5) Hammond: Outlines of Textual Criti- 
cism. 

(6) Gardiner: Principles of Textual Criti- 
cism. 

(7) Harman : Introduction to the Scriptures, 
pp. 48-56, 462-488. 

(8) Davidson: Biblical Criticism, — the first 
volume being devoted to the Old Testament, 
the second to the New. 

(9) Schaff: Companion to the Revised Ver- 
sion. 

5 



114 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

(io) Home: Introduction to the Holy 
Scriptures (Ayre-Tregelles) ; vol. iv, pp. 1-402, 
670-739; vol. ii, pp. 19-209. 

(1 1) Scrivener : Introduction to the Criticism 
of the New Testament. 

(12) Comparison of different texts and ver- 
sions of the Hebrew and Greek originals, and 
patristic quotations. 

4. The Higher, or Historical, Criticism. 

(1) Briggs: Biblical Study, pp. 164-213. 

(2) Smith : Bible Dictionary (Hackett's edi- 
tion), Articles on the various books of the Bible. 

(3) Farrar: The Messages of the Books. 

(4) Farrar: Early Days of Christianity. 

(5) Harman : Introduction to the Scriptures, 
pp. 66-423, 500-749. 

(6) Home : Introduction (Ayre-Tregelles), 
vol. i. 

(7) Gloag: Introduction to the Pauline 
Epistles. 

(8) Gloag: Introduction to the Catholic 
Epistles. 

(9) The special introductions prefixed to the 
various books in the Speakers and other large 
commentaries. In some instances these are 
quite valuable. 

(10) Green: Moses and the prophets. 

(11) Bissell: The Pentateuch ; its origin and 
structure. 



LITERATURE. 115 

(12) Westcott : Introduction to the Study 
of the Gospels. 

(13) The current discussion in Hebraica. 

(14) Crosby: The Bible View of the Jewish 
Church. 

(15) The study of the testimony of the 
Biblical books themselves concerning their 
authorship, date, etc. This, of course, is the 
primary source of evidence, and in order to 
thoroughness a careful use of the original lan- 
guages is required. 

II. BIBLICAL EXEGESIS. 
I. In its basis. 

A. Hebrew. 

(1) Home: Introduction, vol. ii, pp. 3-18. 

(2) Encyclopaedia Britannica, art. Hebrew 
Language and Literature. 

(3) McClintock and Strong, art. The He- 
brew Language. 

(4) Briggs: Biblical Study, pp. 42-59, 248- 
295. 

(5) Terry: Hermeneutics, pp. 69-106. 

(6) Fuerst: History of Hebrew Study, pp. 
15-32 of Hebrew Lexicon. 

(7) Harper : Hebrew Method and Manual : 
Hebrew Elements; Hebrew Syntax. 

(8) Green : Hebrew Grammar; larger revised 
edition. 



116 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGY. 

(9) Gesenius: Hebrew Lexicon. 

(10) Hebrew Bible and Revised English 
version of the Old Testament. 

(11) Englishman's Hebrew Concordance. 

(12) Young: Analytical Concordance. 

B. Biblical Greek. 

(1) Winer: Grammar of the New Testament 
Diction. 

(2) Green: Handbook of the Grammar of 
the New Testament. 

(3) Thayer: Lexicon of the New Testament 
Greek. 

(4) Cremer: Biblico-Theological Lexicon of 
the New Testament Greek. 

(5) Hudson : Greek Concordance. 

(6) Bagster: Septuagint — English version. 

(7) Tischendorf s Greek Text ; Westcott & 
Hort's; The Reviser's Greek Text. 

C. Cognate Philology. 

(1) Lansing: Arabic Manual. 

(2) Catafalgo: Arabic Lexicon. 

(3) Riggs : Manual of the Chaldee. 

(4) Brown, C. R. ; Aramaic Method and 
Manual. 

(5) Lyon: Assyrian Manual. 

(6) Brown, F. ■ The Study of Assyriology. 

(7) Delitzsch: Hebrew in the Light of As- 
syrian. 



LITER A TURE. 117 

(8) The articles on these languages in the 
encyclopedias above mentioned. 

D. Oriental Archaeology. 

(i) Lenormant: Beginnings of History. 

(2) Rawlinson: Seven Great Monarchies. 

(3) Wilkinson: Manners and Customs of the 
Ancient Egyptians. 

(4) Wright: The Hittite Empire. 

(5) Cooper: An Archaic Dictionary. 

(6) Rawlinson: Ancient Religions; and His- 
torical Illustrations. The articles on the vari- 
ous ancient oriental nations in the Encyclo- 
pedia Britannica. Discoveries all along the line 
of Biblical research and oriental archaeology 
generally are being rapidly made, and the stu- 
dent who would keep himself nearly abreast 
must be watchful. The reports of reliable 
travelers and explorers as published in the 
archaeological journals are the original sources 
of information in regard to these discoveries. 
The " Biblical Research " column in the New 
York Independent, and equivalent columns in 
various religious periodicals, frequently give 
valuable condensations of this general species 
of news. 

2. In its process. 

(1) Immer: Hermeneutics, pp. 104-376. A 
very valuable work, though the author's view 



118 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

of inspiration as indicated here and there in 
the book is more liberal than we like. 

(2) Briggs: Biblical Study, pp. 27-37. 

(3) Davidson : Sacred Hermeneutics, pp. 285- 

515. 

(4) Cellerier (Elliott and Harsha): Biblical 
Hermeneutics, pp. 73-216. 

(5) Terry: Biblical Hermeneutics, pp. 175- 
418, 500-510, 582-600. 

(6) Fairbairn: Hermeneutical Manual, pp. 
157-368, 395-520. 

(7) Home: Introduction, vol. ii, pp. 210- 
505. 

(8) The Schaff-Lange Commentaries: Illus- 
trations of the completed exegetical process 
are furnished in the " Critical and Exegetical," 
" Doctrinal and Ethical," "Homiletical and 
Practical " parts of this work. 

(9) Spurgeon : Treasury of David. This 
contains the result of a good deal of literary 
exegesis, strings of select quotations from vari- 
ous writers. It corresponds to the ancient 
catenistic. 

3. In its methods. 

(1) Immer: Hermeneutics, pp. 83-90. 

(2) Alexander: Princeton Review y April, 

18.55. 

(3) Davidson : Sacred Hermeneutics, pp. 
193 225. 



LITER A TURE. 119 

(4) Terry: Biblical Hermeneutics, pp. 163— 
174. 

(5) Ker: History of Preaching, pp. 147-389. 

(6) Hurst: History of Rationalism. 

(7) The exegetical writings of Philo and the 
ante and post nicene Fathers are accessible to 
the English student, and furnish conspicuous 
examples of mystical exegesis. 

4. In its history. 

(1) Schaff-Herzog: Cyclopedia, art. Exege- 
.sis. 

(2) Cellerier (Elliott and Harsha): Herme- 
neutics, pp. 8-34. 

(3) Davidson: Hermeneutics, pp. 70-193. 

(4) Immer: Hermeneutics, pp. 29-83. 

(5) Terry: Hermeneutics, pp. 603-738. 

(6) Reuss: History of the New Testament. 

(7) Hurst : History of Rationalism. 

(8) Farrar: History of Interpretation. 

(9) The larger Church Histories also devote 
more or less space to the history of Biblical 
exegesis during the centuries covered by these 
works. They also refer to many of the sources 
from which the history of exegesis is made up. 
By means of the index at the end of the 
volume, with which every book of any value 
ought to be furnished, the student may easily 
trace the paragraphs or sections which treat 
his' subject, and thereby not only learn what his 



120 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

author says, but be led to the sources and 
thereby become his own historian. The " Qab- 
balla and the Zohar," by Isaac Myer, contains 
a history of one branch of the Jewish exegesis. 

5. In its principles. 

The statement and discussion of the princi- 
ples of exegesis is Hermeneutics strictly so 
called. Works on this subject, however, do 
not generally restrict themselves to the princi- 
ples, but discuss various allied themes, as 
methods, history, applications, etc. The works, 
therefore, already given under the head of 
" Biblical Exegesis" may here be again con- 
sulted. We mention the following additional 
references : 

(1) Doede's Manual of Hermeneutics. 

(2) Angus' Bible Handbook, pp. 167-352. 

(3) Barrow's Companion to the Bible, pp. 
521-639. 

(4) Cellerier's Hermeneutics, pp. 35-278. 

(5) Ernesti's (Terrot's) Principles of Interpre- 
tation. 

(6) Home's Introduction, vol. ii, pp. 210-505. 

By such a course of comparative study the 
student will accomplish three things: (1) He 
will learn the principles; (2) he will inform 
himself concerning the agreement or want of 
agreement on the part of writers in regard to 



LITER A TURE. 121 

any given principle ; (3) by knowing it and 
applying it to the actual work of exegesis he 
will be enabled to test for himself the validity 
of any principle; e.g., that of " Accommoda- 
tion," "The Double Sense of Prophecy," etc. 

B. Christian Theology. 

I. BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. 

I. Old Testament. 

Here the chief and primal source is the Old 
Testament itself. Each book should be thor- 
oughly studied, not in the order in which it 
stands in the English or Hebrew Bible, but 
each in its proper chronological place as nearly 
as this can be ascertained. The facts in each 
should be carefully gathered, arranged in their 
proper relation to each other and their signi- 
ficance noted. The central thought of each of 
the books, and of the Old Testament as a whole, 
the relation of the books to each other, and to 
the whole, should also be noted. This is neces- 
sary in order to unity and coherency. Old Test- 
ament Theology treats its subject from the stand- 
point of the ancient people of God, rather than 
from that of the present. Hence it rightly regards 
the Old Testament as the history of a progress- 
ing revelation rather than the record of a com- 
pleted revelation. It must be understood in the 
former sense before it can be wisely used in 



122 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

the latter for the purposes of Christian Dog- 
matics. We must know what it meant to 
Israel before we can know what it means to us; 
though of course this statement is not to be 
construed as having any bearing on the devo- 
tional reading of the Scriptures, only in so far 
as devotional reading would be only the more 
devotional if it were also intelligent. The lit- 
erature of Old Testament theology is abundant 
but scattered and scrappy, and much of it inac- 
cessible to the mere English reader. As con- 
ducted in England and America this method of 
Bible study is scarcely yet to be called a science. 
It is to be hoped that the future will bring to 
us something more than echoes from Germany, 
however suggestive and stimulating some of 
these may be. The following list of references 
may be helpful : 

(i) Bible Studies in the Old Testament 
Student, 1886-88. 

(2) Set of the Old Testament Student, 
which contains many articles of greater or less 
value in the line of Old Testament Theology. 

(3) Kurtz: Sacred History. 

(4) Weidner: Abridgment of Oehler's Old 
Testament Theology. 

(5) Oehler: Old Testament Theology. 

(6) Smith: Old Testament History; pp. 218 
-279 contain an analysis of * the Mosaic Legis- 
lation. 



LITER A TURE. 123 

(7) Butler: Pentateuch; vol. ii contains a 
synopsis of subjects and an analysis of the Mo- 
saic Legislation. 

(8) Michaelis : The Laws of Moses, containing 
an analysis of the legislation, and a discus- 
sion of the various laws as classified. 

(9) Kurtz: History of the Old Covenant, 
which, on the Pentateuchal Question, assumes 
the conservative and traditional view. 

(10) Geikie: Hours with the Bible, contain- 
ing in popular form many of the results of the 
more recent archaeological research. 

(11) Series of Biographies of Old Testament 
characters, written by various scholars and pub- 
lished by A. D. F. Randolph & Co. ; also con- 
taining in popular form results of recent 
research. 

(12) Briggs: Messianic Prophecy. 

(13) Thomson: The Great Argument; or 
Christ in the Old Testament. 

(14) Gloag: Messianic Prophecy. 

(15) Smith: Prophecy a Preparation for 
Christ. 

(16) Ewald : Biblical Theology. 

(17) Schraeder: The Cuneiform Inscriptions 
and the Old Testament. 

(18) Ewald: Revelation; its History and 
Record. 

(19) Hackett-Smith : Bible Dictionary, arti- 
cles on various Old Testament topics. 



124 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

(20) Orelli : Old Testament Prophecy. 

(21) Edersheim: Prophecy in its Relations 
to the Messiah. 

(22) Cave : Scriptural Doctrine of Sacrifice. 

(23) Delitzsch: Biblical Psychology. 

2. New Testament. 

The New Testament, too, while a revelation 
to us, is also the record of a revelation in pro- 
gress, and must be so studied. The steps here 
are only years, whereas in the Old Testament 
they were centuries. The same directions are 
to be observed as in studying the Old. To the 
thorough understanding and appreciation of 
the New Testament a knowledge of the New 
Testament times is necessary ; the contem- 
porary heathenism in its political, moral and 
religious aspects ; the contemporary Judaism 
in its political, theological and religious status ; 
the relation of Judaism to Mosaism and to 
heathenism ; John the Baptist. As to details, 
various plans may be adopted in working up 
the subject, the New Testament itself being 
the chief source. A valuable guide is furnished 
in the New Testament Studies, supplement to 
the Old Testament Student, 1888. Besides 
standard exegetical commentaries the following 
may be used for collateral study and reference : 

(1) The articles on Pharisees, Sadducees, and 
other principal New Testament topics in the 



LITER A TURE. 125 

Biblical encyclopaedias; these are not only 
supposed to be written by specialists, but they 
also direct the student, or ought to do so, to 
sources of further information. 

(2) Edersheim : Life and Times of Jesus the 
Messiah. 

(3) Schiirer: The Jewish people in the time 
of Christ. 

(4) Schaff-Lange : Commentary on Matthew. 

(5) Schaff-Lange : Commentary on the Epis- 
tle to the Romans. 

(6) Morrison : Commentary on Matthew. 

(7) Godet : Commentary on Romans. 

(8) Godet : Biblical Studies. 

(9) Farrar: Life and Times of Paul. 

(10) Conybeare and Howson: Life and Epis- 
tles of Paul. 

(11) Farrar: Early Days of Christianity. 

(12) Hausrath: The Apostle Paul. 

(13) Bernard: Progress of Doctrine in the 
New Testament. 

(14) Schaff: History of the Christian Church, 
vol, i. 

(15) Van Oosterzee: New Testament The- 
ology. 

(16) Schmid: Biblical Theology of the New 
Testament. 

(17) Weiss: Biblical Theology of the New 
Testament. 



126 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

II. POST-BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. 

The ramifications of post-Biblical Theology 
are many and extensive, like the branches of a 
mighty tree. The student, without method, 
analysis, classification, is utterly helpless. He 
must wander as one in a labyrinthine maze. 
If he cannot devise for himself a method of 
grouping the facts in his chosen department of 
work, he must study and appreciate at its full 
value the method of the author whom he has 
selected as his guide. What we may say here 
cannot be more than the slightest hint or sug- 
gestion even to the beginner. In our general 
scheme (page 87) we divided post-Biblical The- 
ology into two principal sections, the Historical 
and the Doctrinal. This division may be here 
resumed. 

1 . The Historical Section. 

This also has numerous branches and sub- 
branches, which should be as clearly mapped as 
possible in the student's mind in order that he 
may study them intelligently, not only in them- 
selves but also in their relations outside of and 
beyond themselves. He should begin by read- 
ing carefully some reliable general Church His- 
tory in which all the principal topics are men- 
tioned, and the author's analysis as exhibited 
in his table of contents, and unfolded as his 
book proceeds, should be grasped. In our 



LITERATURE. 121 

scheme we used the terms " External M and 
" Internal" Church History, not because these 
terms must appear in the actual analysis of 
history, but provisionally and as illustrating the 
difference between the two great divisions — 
the one being the history of the outward life 
of the Church, and the other of its inward life, 
its thought, its heart. The same terms will 
therefore serve us here. The enlargement and 
filling up of some such plan as is here presented 
in brief must imply that the student has been 
furnished a bird's-eye view of the whole field 
of history by his text-book. 

(i) External History. 

(a) For the whole field. 

(a) Kurtz: History of the Christian Church. 
(ff) Fisher: History of the Christian Church. 
(c) Schaff : History of the Christian Church. 

(b) Division of topics. 

{a) The extension of the Church among un- 
converted nations. This is the history of 
missions. 

(a) Milman: History of Christianity from 
the Birth of Christ to the Abolition of Pagan- 
ism in the Roman Empire. 

(b) Milman: History of Latin Christianity 
to A. D. 1455. These works discuss the early 
and mediaeval periods of missions. 



128 THE STUDT GF THEOLOGT. 

(c) Maclear: Missions in the Middle Ages. 

(d) Merivale: Conversion of the Northern 
Nations. 

(e) Brown: History of the Propagation of 
Christianity among the Heathen since the 
Reformation. 

(f) Christlieb : Foreign Missions. 

(g) Young: Modern Missions. 

(b) Persecutions ; (i) from without by hostile 
Jews and heathens; (2) from within, wars and 
violence among Christians themselves. 

(a) Articles in the encyclopedias and general 
histories on the emperors Nero, Domitian, 
Trajan, Antoninus, Severus, IVTaximinus, Decius, 
Valerian, Aurelian, Diocletian. 

(b) On the Albigenses and Waldenses, In- 
quisition, Huguenots, Charles IX and Louis 
XIV of France, The Thirty Years' War, Henry 
VIII and Queen Mary of England, the perse- 
cution in Ireland under Charles I. 

(c) The works of Milman mentioned above. 

(d) Melia: Origin, Persecution, etc., of the 
Waldensians. 

(e) Smedley: History of the Reformed Re- 
ligion in France. 

(f) Lee: History of the Inquisition. 

(g) Woodrow: History of the Sufferings of 
the Church of Scotland. 

(h) Neale: History of the Bohemian Perse- 
cution. 



LITERATURE. 129 

(i) Lanigan : Ecclesiastical History of Ire- 
land. 

(j) Schiller: History of the Thirty Years' 
War. 

(k) Motley: History of the Netherlands. 

(c) Government, worship, morality, religion. 

(a) Coleman : Ancient Christianity Exem- 
plified. 

(b) Smith : Dictionary of Christian Antiqui- 
ties. 

(c) Bingham : Christian Antiquities. 

(d) Hefele: History of the Councils. 

(e) Uhlhorn: Christian Charity in the An- 
cient Church. 

(f) Pellicca: Polity of the Christian Church 
of Early Mediaeval and Modern Times. 

(g) Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th edition, art. 
Liturgy. 

(h) Hammond : Eastern and Western Litur- 
gies. 

(i) Neale: Mediaeval Preachers. 

(j) Baring-Gould : Post-Mediaeval Preachers. 

(k) Broadus : History of Preaching. 

(1) Ker: History of Preaching. 

(m) Chandler: Hymns of the Primitive 
Church. 

(n) Neale: Hymns of the Eastern Church. 

(o) Schaff: Christ in Song. 

(p) Lubke : History of Architecture. 
5* 



130 THE STUDY OF THEOLOGT. 

(q) Norton : Church Building in the Middle 
Ages. 

2. Internal History. 

For literature of history of exegesis see 
above. 

(a) J. A. Dorner: History of Protestant 
Theology. 

(b) J. A. Dorner: History of the Doctrine 
of the Person of Christ. 

(c) Ritschl : History of the Doctrines of Jus- 
tification and Reconciliation. 

(d) Cunningham: Historical Theology. 

(e) Neander: History of Christian Dogmas. 
(/") Hagenbach: History of Doctrine. 

(?) Shedd: History of Doctrine. 

(k) Lecky: History of Rationalism in 
Europe. (Mr. Lecky is himself a rationalist.) 

(i) Hagenbach: German Rationalism, its 
Rise, Progress and Decline. 

(j) Hurst: History of Rationalism. 

(k) Lecky: History of European Morals (a 
rationalistic work.) 

(/) Schaff: Creeds of Christendom. In sev- 
eral of the above works extensive accounts are 
also given of the Pietistic movement in Ger- 
many under Spener, Francke, Bengel, Weis- 
man and others, which constitutes an important 
chapter in the history of the church. 



LITER A TURE. 131 

2. The Doctrinal Section; Systematic The- 
ology. 

(i) Ecclesiastical' Statistics ; the present state 
of Christendom. 

(a) Dorchester: Problem of Religious Prog- 
ress. 

(b) Year Books and Annual Minutes of the 
various Denominations. 

(2) Christian Dogmatics. 

{a) Leading general treatises on this subject 
are Hodge's "Systematic Theology"; Pope's 
" Christian Theology " ; Van Oosterzee's "Chris- 
tian Dogmatics" ; Dorner, Luthardt, Richard 
Beard. For the views of Calvin, Luther, Ar- 
minius, and other fathers of Protestant theology, 
one would not of course restrict himself to 
more recent exponents of these systems, but 
should consult the writings of these fathers 
themselves.* The following special treatises 
will guide the student to further investigation. 

{b) The works of Bannerman, Elliott, Gaus- 
sen, Given, and Manly, on the Inspiration of 
the Scriptures; the sections on the church doc- 
trine of the Scriptures in the general works on 
systematic theology. Ladd's " The Doctrine of 
Sacred Scriptures" is massive and thoughtful, 
but not orthodox on all points. 

*" Fathers," in theological language, are those who 
originated systems, or schools of thought ; whereas " doc- 
tors " are those who merely teach them. 



132 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

(c) Charnocke's " Existence and Attributes 
of God." Bickersteth's "The Rock of Ages" 
(the Trinity). Candlish's " The Fatherhood of 
God." Dawson's " Origin of the World." 
Hickok's " Creator and Creation." McCosh's 
"Theory of the Divine Government." Harris's 
" Rational Theism." Harris's " Self-Revelation 
of God." The corresponding sections in the 
general works above mentioned. 

(d) Liddon's " The Divinity of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ." Bruce's "The Humilia- 
tion of Christ." Dorner's " The Doctrine of 
the Person of Christ." Schaff's " The Person 
of Christ." Van Oosterzee's "The Image of 
Christ as Presented in Scripture." Barnes' 
" The Atonement." Dale's " The Atonement." 
Magee's " Discourses and Dissertations on the 
Atonement." Cave's " Scriptural Doctrine of 
Sacrifice." The corresponding sections in the 
general works. 

(V) Heber's Bampton Lectures on the Per- 
sonality and Office of the Comforter. See also 
the American edition of the works of John 
Owen, vols, iii, iv ; and the corresponding sec- 
tions in the general works. 

(/) Tulloch's " The Christian Doctrine of 
Sin." James Buchanan's " The Doctrine of 
Justification." The chapters on the doctrines 
concerning Man and Sin in the general works 
on Dogmatics. 



LITERATURE. 133 

(g) Bannerman's " The Scripture Doctrine 
of the Church." Morris's " Ecclesiology." 
Stuart Robinson's " The Church of God." The 
parts devoted to Ecclesiology in the works on 
Christian Dogmatics of Van Oosterzee, Pope, 
Summers, etc. 

(h) The parts devoted to eschatology, or the 
resurrection, the final judgment, etc., in the 
general treatises of Hodge, Dorner, Martensen, 
Van Oosterzee, etc., on Systematic Theology or 
Christian Dogmatics, Remensnyder's " Doom 
Eternal." 

(3) Christian Ethics; or Moral Theology. 

Martensen's " Christian Ethics," Baird's "Re- 
ligion in America," Spear's " Religion and the 
State," Hovey's " Religion and the State," 
Thompson's " Church and State in the United 
States," Hitchcock's "Socialism," Wolsey's 
" Communism and Socialism," Cadman's Chris- 
tian Unity of Capital and Labor"; vols, iv, vi, 
vii, viii of Boston Monday Lectures, discussing 
Conscience, Marriage, Socialism. 

(4) Comparative Theology. 

Schaff's " Creeds of Christendom," vols, ii, 
iii, Moffat's "A Comparative History of Re- 
ligions," Rawlinson's "The Contrasts of Chris- 
tianity with Heathen and Jewish Systems/' 
Schaff's "The Harmony of the Reformed Con- 



134 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

fessions," Hall's "The Harmony of Protestant 
Confessions." 

( 5 ) Theoretical Apologetics. 

Christlieb's "Modern Doubt and Christian 
Belief," Fisher's " Essays on the Supernatural 
Origin of Christianity," Godet's "Lectures in 
Defence of the Christian Faith," Guizot's 
" Meditations on the Essence of Christianity," 
Smith's "Apologetics," Luthardt's "Lectures 
on the Fundamental Truths of Christianity," 
Butler's Analogy. 

3. Practical Theology. 

The literature is very abundant and much of 
it well known to all readers. Works relating 
to the history of the several branches have been 
mentioned on a preceding page. Van Ooster- 
zee's Practical Theology opens up the whole 
subject from the point of view of a foreign 
writer, and though the conditions and circum- 
stances are in many respects quite different on 
this side of the sea, it is worthy of a careful 
reading by the American student. A few of 
the more special works are as follows : 

(1) Homiletics; Phelps' " Theory of Preach- 
ing," Broadus's " Preparation and Delivery of 
Sermons," the Yale Lectures on Preaching by 
Beecher, Crosby, Dale, Hall, Simpson, Taylor, 
Brooks. 



LITER A TURE. 135 

(2) Catechetics; Van Oosterzee's " Practical 
Theology," pp. 448-509. See also the articles 
in the McClintock & Strong and Schaff-Herzog 
Cyclopedias. The Lutheran, Reformed, West- 
minster, and other great catechisms, together 
with their histories, are given in Schaffs 
''Creeds of Christendom. " The subject has 
both a scientific and practical side, and is 
worthy of much more attention in both aspects. 
Theory exists for the sake of practice, or 
application, and the latter is helped out by the 
former. The Protestant Church and the people 
should keep together. Arden's " Manual of 
Catechetical Instruction," Beecher's " Common 
Sense Applied to Religion ; or, the Bible and 
the People," Spencer's " Pastor's Sketches." 

(3) The Sunday School. Trumbull's " Teach- 
ing and Teachers" and " Yale Lectures on the 
Sunday School." This latter work has at the 
end a valuable bibliography which will guide the 
student to the abundant literature of the subject. 

(4) Pastoral Theology. Baxter's "Reformed 
Pastor." Blaikie's " For the Work of the Min- 
istry." George Herbert's "The Country Par- 
son." Plumer's " Pastoral Theology." Van Oos- 
terzee's "Practical Theology," pp. 510-587. 
Vinet's " Pastoral Theology." Shedd's "Homi- 
letics and Pastoral Theology." Hoppin's " Pas- 
toral Theology." Phelps' " Men and Books." 
Hatfield's "Revivals of Religion." Barnes' 



136 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

" Sermons on Revivals." Newell's " Revivals: 
How and When." Stall's " Method of Church 
Work." 

(5) Liturgies. In addition to the works on 
the historical liturgies already mentioned the 
following sources may be consulted : Van Oos- 
terzee's " Practical Theology," pp. 345-447. 
Baird's "A Chapter on Liturgies." "Eutaxia; 
or, the Presbyterian Liturgies." The Princeton 
Review, July 1855. Vincent's (M. R.) "The 
Minister's Handbook," containing forms for 
Baptism, Burial, Ordinations, etc. Mattison's 
"Minister's Pocket Ritual," adapted to the use 
of all denominations. The various formulas 
contained in the denominational Disciplines 
and Handbooks. 

(6) Church Polity. Barnes' " Episcopacy 
Tested by Scripture." Davidson's " The Ec- 
clesiastical Polity of the New Testament 
Unfolded." Miller's "Christian Ministry." Rob- 
inson's "The Church of God "; the appendix 
contains the polity of John Knox and other 
historic symbols of Presbyterian Church 
Government. G. A. Jacobs' "Ecclesiastical 
Polity." Hodges' "The Church and Its Polity." 
Ladd's "The Principles of Church Polity"; 
illustrated by an analysis of modern Congrega- 
tionalism." 

(7) Hymnology and Church Music. Histori- 
cal references have been given above. Other 



LITER A TUBE. 137 

literature is very abundant, including the 
various hymnals and tune books, and the 
numerous works on hymns and their authors. 
We mention : Christopher's " Hymn Writers 
and Their Hymns." Miller's " Singers and 
Songs of the Church. " Winkworth's "Chris- 
tian Singers of Germany." Butterworth's 
" Story of the Hymns." Long's " Hymns and 
Their History." Phelps' " Hymns and Choirs." 
Gould's " History of Church Music in Amer- 
ica." (This last should be brought down to 
present date.) 

(8) Evangelistics; or Missions. Works on the 
present practical aspects of this subject are 
numerous and increasing rapidly, which argues 
an increasing interest in this branch of Christian 
activity. Pierson's "The Crisis of Missions"; 
Strong's "Our Country"; Ellinwood's "The 
Great Conquest"; Carroll's "The World of 
Missions"; Houghton's "The Women of the 
Orient " ; Bromhall's " The Evangelization of 
the World"; are a few of the books on this 
subject which may be here mentioned. " The 
Missionary Review of the World" (monthly) 
furnishes the ablest current discussions of 
missionary news and methods. It is unde- 
nominational. 

(9) Practical Apologetics. Barnes' " Evi- 
dences of Christianity," lectures iv, ix, x. 
Storr's "The Divine Origin of Christianity 



138 THE STUDT OF THEOLOGT. 

Indicated by Its Historical Effects"; "an im- 
partial and scholarly survey of the history of 
humanitarianism and philanthropy, and of the 
rapid and steady progress made since the 
advent of Christ, in the various departments 
of human life — letters and morals, music, poli- 
tics and society. . . . The principle applied 
by the author is, the cause is known by its 
effects, the tree by its fruits ; that Christen- 
dom is the proof of Christianity " ; the ablest 
summary of the argument in the line of prac- 
tical apologetics that is contained in any 
one volume. The whole history of Christian 
civilization, as compared with that of other 
civilizations, is itself a practical vindication of 
Christianity. 



(80 ye therefore, anb ma^e bisciples of all tfye 
nations, baptising tfyem into tfye name of tfye 
^atber anb of tfye Son anb of tfye f}oly (Bfyost: 
' teaching tfyem to observe all things tt>fyatsoeper 3 
commanbeb you : anb lo, 3 <*™ ttntfy you alway, 
euen unto tfye enb of tfye xooxlb. VTiatt 28 : f 9, 20. 



APPENDIX. 139 



APPENDIX. 



A.— BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. 

In reference to what has been said on pages 85, 121, and 
elsewhere, concerning this comparatively recent division 
of theological science, the following additional statements 
may not be out of place : 

1. Defi7iitio?i and Scope. 

The term " Biblical" is in this connection used in a 
kind of technical sense, whereby it is not meant to be im- 
plied, of course, that the ordinarily so called Systematic 
Theology is not in another sense quite Biblical. Syste- 
matic Theology, however, is constructed in reference to 
the state of Christian thought and affairs at the time of the 
writer, and is bound to take more or less formal heed to 
the voice of the Church as expressed in creeds and rulings of 
ecclesiastical councils. But Biblical Theology as such has 
nothing to do with creeds as such, nor with the present, 
only in so far as its form may to a greater or less extent 
be determined thereby. It seeks the truth of revelation 
not so much in its adaptation to the wants and phases 
of the Church at the present time as in its adaptation to 
the ancient people of God, to whom it was revealed in the 
first place. 

A Systematic Theology, or Christian Dogmatics, there 
must be, of course; but it is only a systematic exposition 
of the creed and the voice of the Church, founded, in the 
view of the writer, on the Sacred Scriptures. But, what- 



140 APPENDIX. 

ever may be the prepossessions of the writer of a Biblical 
Theology, this branch of theological science itself is sup- 
posed to deal only with the Bible, unhampered by alle- 
giance to any other confession. It builds on the postulate 
of a central thought in the whole Old and New Testa- 
ment revelation, viz., the Divine Purpose of Redemption ; 
and it seeks to trace within the period of the Biblical 
history the movement of that purpose towards its con- 
summation. God spake unto the fathers "by divers por- 
tions and in divers manners" (Heb. i, i); and the object 
of Biblical Theology is to systematically exhibit and dis- 
cuss this revelation of God as it was actually made from 
time to time. 

But God revealed his will and purpose not only by 
means of the words which he spake through prophets and 
apostles, but also by means of the facts, or historical occur- 
rences, recorded in the Bible. Biblical Theology, then, is 
the historical exhibition of the religion, in its entirety, con- 
tained in the canonical books of the Sacred Scriptures. 
It conducts its discussion apart from any confessional 
standpoint, though the results of its inquiries may, of 
course, be quite in harmony with the creed in so far as the 
latter may express itself. It abides mainly in the Bible 
times, seeking to know the course, and the contents, and 
the significance, of God's revelation to his ancient people 
primarily in its relation to that people themselves. This 
must be first known before its relation to the subsequent 
Church can be fully apprehended and appreciated. Only 
thus can the fundamental importance of the Old Testa- 
ment in its relation to the New, and hence to ourselves, be 
made clearly visible. 

Biblical Theology, then, would seem to be easily dis- 
tinguishable from what is commonly called Systematic 
Theology, or Christian Dogmatics. The latter has a by 
no means unimportant place in theological science and 
literature, but it cannot, and it should not, lose sight 
wholly of the Confession and of the aspects and demands 



APPENDIX. 141 

of the organized Church and the times. Biblical The- 
ology is systematic, but it is not Systematic ; and on the 
other hand Systematic Theology ought to be in harmony 
with the teachings of the Bible, but it is not Biblical in the 
proper technical sense in which the word is used. 

2. Method. 

That is, upon what principle, or plan, is Biblical The- 
ology constructed ? Its method is historical. It seeks to 
reproduce, or exhibit, the process whereby religious knowl- 
edge attained its growth, as found in the Bible, using the 
books of the Bible for this purpose according to their 
presumed chronological order. It shows how religious 
knowledge was added from time to time to what was 
already in the possession of God's people, or had been 
previously revealed. It shows the laws of the develop- 
ment of the Biblical religion from the germinal principles 
in the beginning to the completion of the revelation in the 
Christ of the New Testament. But the growth, or devel- 
opment, which Biblical Theology traces is a supernatural 
growth. It is not possible to explain it on merely natural 
grounds, and hence it can by no means be regarded as the 
mere outcome of the striving of the so-called religious 
genius of the Hebrew people. 

But Biblical Theology is also inductive in its method, 
because it ever seeks the unity which exists in the abund- 
ant diversity of Biblical times, authors, types of doctrine, 
etc., and by comparing one with another reaches its con- 
clusions. It examines the statements, or passages, sever- 
ally and together, treating the Biblical revelation as 
embodied in Divine deeds and institutions, as well as in 
words or verbal statements of doctrine and precept. In 
short it embraces all the essential factors of the history of 
the Kingdom of God as set forth in the Old and New 
Testaments. 

3. Sources. 

The primary sources of Biblical Theology are, of 
course, the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Tes- 



142 APPENDIX, 

taments. Protestantism rejects both the Jewish and 
Christian apocryphal writings, while the Roman Catholic 
Church retains the former, attaching to them a secondary 
authority. Other sources of information, such as contem- 
poraneous secular history and the religious records of 
peoples lying outside of the sphere of revelation, are to be 
consulted by way of collateral illustration. The Biblical 
religion is one among a great variety of religions, all of 
which possess a greater or less number of features in com- 
mon ; as, for example, the recognition of the existence of 
a Divine Being to whom man is in some way responsible. 
But a true Biblical Theology recognizes the religion of 
the Bible as a supernaturally revealed religion, and as being 
the only one that is so revealed. And it is its province, not 
only to ascertain, systematize, and discuss, the contents of 
this religion, but also to distinguish what is peculiar to it 
from what it has in common with other religions. 

But while the Old Testament is the chief source of the 
data and subject-matter of Old Testament Theology, it is 
necessary for us to have a right view of the Old Testa- 
ment itself. It is not to be regarded merely as the record 
left to us of the religious views and practices of the ancient 
Hebrews, in the same sense as the Zendavesta may be 
regarded as the record of the religion of the ancient Per- 
sians. The ancient Hebrews did and believed many things 
which the Old Testament did not allow, and it enjoined 
from the very outset more than one belief and practice 
which they were extremely slow to accept — which was, 
indeed, directly opposed to the persistent national ten- 
dency. This is an obvious fact, and it helps to prove that 
the Old Testament religion was by no means the mere 
outcome, as some rationalists have affirmed, of the simple 
gift and fondness of the Semitic people for religious 
matters. 

It is the province, therefore, of a true Biblical Theology 
to distinguish, not only between the religion of the Old 
Testament and that of heathen nations, but also between 



APPENDIX, 143 

the natural religion of the masses of the Hebrew people 
and that which was furnished to them, and through them 
to us, from above and in a supernatural manner. 

So, also, the revelation of the New Testament is to be 
distinguished from the contemporary uninspired Jewish 
theology in the midst of which the New Testament form 
of religion was developed. But a thorough understand- 
ing, in so far as this may be possible, of that which lies 
immediately on the outside of the sphere of revelation, 
will enable us only the more clearly to perceive and appre- 
ciate the peculiar excellency of that which is within. 
Such works, therefore, as throw light on these outside 
but immediately adjacent matters are to be regarded as 
useful collateral sources of information ; as, for example : 
Rawlinson's "The Religions of the Ancient World"; 
Lenormant's "Occult Sciences of Asia"; Krehl's "Relig- 
ion of the Pre-Islam Arabs"; Mover's "The Phoeni- 
cians"; Renoufs " History of the Egyptian Religion"; 
Weber's " System of the Old Synagogue Palestinian The- 
ology"; The works of Schurer already mentioned; such 
parts of the Talmuds and Targums as have been made 
accessible ; the Sacred Books of the East, edited by Prof. 
Max Miiller, etc. 

4. Origin, and Dangers. 

Biblical Theology is the offspring of Protestantism, and 
in no other than the free and fertile soil of Protestantism 
can it ever flourish. The history of its origin and rise to 
a distinct place as a recognized branch of theological 
science is not the least interesting chapter in the internal 
history of the modern Church. But while Protestant 
freedom and activity have given to the world this and 
many other phases of Biblical and theological study, 
would it .not be well for Protestants themselves to hold 
ever vividly in mind the fact that liberty is not license ? 
The Church, including the Protestant branch of it, still 
has a rightful voice, as indeed it must ever have. He who 
works within the pale of the Church, and under its aus- 



144 APPENDIX, 

pices, necessarily in so doing surrenders a part of his free- 
dom to the Church. If Protestantism should ever degen- 
erate into an excessive individualism, then may be justified 
the often repeated accusation of our Roman Catholic 
friends that Protestantism is nothing but " a rushing into 
a bottomless pit" of negations, discords and confusions. 
Nothing is so harmless as the pure truth, nothing is so 
valuable, nothing more desirable ; and many truths are yet 
at the bottom of a deep well, their lustre so dimmed that they 
cannot be easily identified. But there is nothing hid save 
that it should be manifested ; neither was anything made 
secret but that it should come to light. And yet it is 
also true that it would be a sad day for the Church, and 
hence for the world, if Protestantism, in its bounding 
freedom and eagerness to unveil the truth, should swing 
loose from all its historical landmarks, and the word "tra- 
ditional " should become only a term of reproach, and we 
should no more have respect for the gray hairs of the once 
mighty Past. In medias res tutissimus ibis. The middle 
way is the safest ; and if Protestant Biblical study, whether 
in its narrower or more comprehensive sense, would 
achieve its best results for the Church and the world, in 
this way it must walk. Nothing should be labeled 
" Truth " until it is known to be Truth ; and nothing that 
has long, and apparently on good grounds, been received 
as true should be labeled as false until it is known to be so. 
He who walks in the presence ot mystery should walk 
cautiously, and he who stands in the vicinity of the Cross 
should do so with bowed and uncovered head. These are 
no places for other than reverent and circumspect utter- 
ances. 



APPENDIX. 145 



B.— TOPICS FOR STUDY. 

The following groups of topics for study are selected 
from several sources, but chiefly from the list published in 
the Theological catalogue of Cumberland University. 
Several of the students in the Seminary of this Institution 
have written up the list, as there presented, with profit to 
themselves and creditable success. It is intended simply 
as an encouragement and suggestive introduction to inde- 
pendent and original investigation, and as such may not 
be out of place here. Such hints as to sources of informa- 
tion have been given in the preceding pages, under the 
head of " Literature," as may render it unnecessary to 
furnish further references. 

I. Historical and Doctrinal. 

i. The Nature and Men.jd of Christian Teaching as set 
forth in the Acts of the Apostles. 

2. The Doctrinal Character of the Early Apostolic 
Teaching. 

3. The Influence of Jewish Ceremonial upon the 
Christian Church. 

4. The Influence of Greek Philosophy on Christian 
Thought. 

5. Early Schisms. 

6. List and Description of Heresies to the time of 
the Reformation. 

7. History and Influence of Monasticism. 

8. Augustin. 

9. Christian Charity in the Early Church. 

10. The Emperor Constantine. 

11. Bernard of Clairvaux. 

12. John Tauler. 



146 APPENDIX. 

13. Francis Lambert. 

14. John Dury. 

15. Religious Guilds and Associations. 

II. Historical and Critical. 

1. Manuscripts of the Old Testament and Printed 
Hebrew Editions. 

2. History of the Hebrew Text of the Old Testa- 
ment. 

3. The Revised Version of the New Testament. 

4. The Revised Version of the Old Testament. 

5. Theories of the Pentateuch. 

6. The Authorship of the Book of Isaiah. 

7. Hebrew Psalm-writing. 

8. The Hebrew Schools of the Prophets 

9. The Asaph-Psalms. 

10. The Korah-Psalms. 

11. The Davidic-Psalms. 

12. History and Results of the " Higher Criticism." 

13. First Beginnings of a Collection of Apostolic 
Writings. 

14. The Canon of Scripture as regarded by the 
Reformers. 

15. The Canon as regarded by the English Puritans. 

III. Historical and Exegetical. 

1. Historical Sketch of the Jewish Exegesis. 

2. Of the Early Christian Exegesis. 

3. Of the Exegesis of the Middle Ages. 

4. Of the Reformation Period. 

5. Peculiarities of the Pastoral Epistles. 

6. Peculiarities of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 

7. The Church at Corinth. 



APPENDIX. 147 

8. The Apostle Paul's Relation to Judaism. 

9. Romans ix-xi. 

10. The Epistle to the Galatians. 

1 1 Analysis of the Epistle to the Hebrews, based on 
its central doctrinal thought. 

IV. Biblical Theology. 

1. Origin, Growth, and Distinctive Characteristics of 
Biblical Theology. 

2. An Essay in Old Testament Theology. 

3. The Place of John's Gospel in New Testament 
Theology. 

4. The Cardinal Doctrines of the Old Testament. 

5. Doctrinal Omissions in the Old Testament. 

6. The Messianic, or Evangelical, Mission of the 
Ancient Hebrews. 

7. The Relation of the Two Testaments to Each Other. 

8. The Theology of the Jews at the time of our 
Saviour. 

9. An Outline of the Teaching of Christ as presented in 
Matthew, Mark and Luke. 

10. The "Text" and Analysis of the Sermon on the 
Mount. 

11 An Essay in the Pauline Theology ; an arrange- 
ment of its chief theses. 

12. A Classified Arrangement of the Ethical Teachings 
of Paul. 

V. Practical Theology. 

1. A Classified List of the Practical Teachings of the 
Pastoral Epistles. 

2. The Right Temper for a Theologian. 

3. The Right Temper for a Pastor. 



148 APPENDIX. 

4. Investigation of the subject : " A Minister's Studies." 

5. The Relation of the Minister to the Church, its 
Courts and Creeds. 

6. Missions. 

7. The Sunday School. 

8. Analysis of Texts and Outlines of Sermons. 

9. Richard Baxter as a Pastor. 

10. George Herbert as a Poet and Pastor. 

11. Adoniram Judson. 



'DEFINITION AND SCOPE. 
DIVISION. 
IMPORTANCE. 
RELATION OF PHILOSOPHY TO THEOLOGY. 



Q 
W 

a, 
o 

a 

> 
o 
Z 

<: 
u 

o 
o 

o 
w 

s 



OTHER BRANCHES. 



I Sciences. 
I Arts. 



SPECIAL THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



T Persian Religion. 
r ttt? \ t>ut?xt Confucian Religion. 
f Tui;mnpv <( Greek Religion . 
THEOLOGY.] Egyptian R %H^ on . 

[Assyrian religion. 



f EXEGETICAL 
AND AUXILIARY 
STUDIES. 



GENERAL 

SCHEME OF 

THEOLOGICAL 

SCIENCE. 



CHRISTIAN < 

[THEOLOGY 



BII 
INTRO 



BIBLIC. 



3U 



CHRISTIAN 
THEOLOGY 

PROPER. 



OTHER TERMS 



Speculative Theology. 
Mystic Theology. 
EMPLOYED. \ Rationalistic Theology. 

Natural Theology, etc., etc. 

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. 

^LITERATURE. 



O. T. Th 



N. T. Th 



Post-Bib 



Christian 
Appli' | 
[Practical 



HON. 



f BIBLICAL 

ARCHEOLOGY, 



BIBLICAL 

CANONICS. 



TEXTUAL 

CRITICISM. 

HISTORIC 

CRITICISM. 



Biblical Geography. 
Biblical Phy siogr a'ph y . 
Biblical Manners andf Customs. 
Biblical Arts and Sciences. 

In Early Church. 

In Roman Catholic Church. 

In Protestant Church. 

In Criticism. 

History of O. T. and N. T. Text. 

Manuscripts. 

Versions. 

Quotations, etc., etc. 

Authorship. Date, etc., etc. 
Occasion. Design, etc., etc. 



rESIS. 



flX ITS BASIS. 



IN ITS PROCESS. 



IN ITS METHODS. . <> 



■ Biblical Philology, 
late Philology. 



( Biblic;: 
. < Cogna 

( Oriental Archaeology. 

f Grammatical Exegesis. 
Logical and Rhetorical Exegesis. 
Historical Exegesis. 
• -4 Comparative Exegesis. 
Literary Exegesis. 
Doctrinal Exegesis. 
„ Practical Exegesis. 

Allegorical Exegesis. 
Dogmatical Exegesis. 
Pietistic Exegesis. 
Rationalistic Exegesis. 
Apologetic and Supernatural Ex. 
Spiritualistic Exegesis. 
.Grammatical and Historical Ex. 



IN ITS HISTORY. . . 



In Its Origin. 
Rabbinical Ex. 
Alexandrian Ex. 



'Jewish Ex. ) 

Apostolic Ex. 

( Literal. 
Patristic Ex. < Allegorical Ex. 
( Historico-Gram. 

Mediaeval Exegesis. 
Reformation Exegesis. 
k Modern Exegesis. 



I IN ITS PRINCIPLES.— Hermeneutics. 

| In Its Historical Aspect. 
i O. T. Dogmatics. 

) In Its Historical Aspect. 
/ N. T. Dogmatics. 



r Historical Theology. 



heo. .{ 



Doctrinal Theology. . . 

Homiletics. 
Catechetics. 
The Sunday School. 

Its Ev angelistics 

or 4 Pastoral Theology. 
l>logy. Liturgies. 

I Hymnologry & Hymnody 
I Church Music. 
' Church Polity. 
Practical Apologetics. 



Historical Statistics. 
External Church History. 
History of Church Thought. 
[Religions Statistics. 

'Church Dogmatics. 
Christian Ethics. 

Comparative ( Polemics. 
Dogmatics. ( Irenics. 

Theoretical Apologetics. 
^Ecclesiastical Statistics. 

Home Missions. 
Foreign Missions. 



INDEX. 149 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Agnosticism 17 

Antiquities 50 

Anthropology 89 

Apologetics 8, 91, 99, 134, 137 

Apostolic Exegesis 79 

Archaeology 59, 62, 112, 117 

Architecture 37/" 58 

Arts 57, 58 

Astronomy 29, 56 

Atheism 17 

Basis of Exegesis 62 

Bengel 71 

Bible 15 

Biblical Exegesis 61 

Bibliology 89 

Boehme 75 

Briggs 66 

Canonics 59, 112 

Catemistic Exegesis 68, 80, 94, 135 

Church History .? 27 

Christology 89 

Church Polity 97, 136 



150 INDEX. 

Clement 67 

Communism , . . . 90 

Controversies 69 

Cousin , 107 

Criticism 60, 61, 113, 114 

Culture 21 

Diman 32 

Doctrinal, the term 46 

Dogma 69 

Dogmatics 69, 85, 86, 89, 91, 92, 97, 131 / 

Drummond 32 

Ecclesiology 89, 92, 97 

Economics 24 

Education 11 

English 25 

Epicurean 16 

Eschatologj 89 

Ethics 14, 21, 24, 51, 52, 56, 90, 133 

Evolution 31 

Exegesis 25, 50, 61/f, 77, 115/ 

Experience , * 105 

Francke 66 

Geography 59 

German 26 

Gladstone 70, 71 

Grammatico- Historical Exegesis 75 

Greek, study of 26, 50, 1 16 

Heart, purity of 107 

Hebrew, study of . , 26, 50, 115 



INDEX. 151 

Heathenism 43 

History 27, 46, 56, 85, 127/ 

History of Philosophy 21 

History of Exegesis 77 

Historical, the term 45 

Hoge 76 

Homiletics , 93, 134 

Hvmnology 40, 97, 136 

Idealism 16 

Information 11 

Irenics 91 

Introduction 57, 58, 112 

Jewish Exegesis 77, 78 

Kant 31 

Ker 69 

Latin, study of 26 

Law, study of 33, 56 

Learning 107 

Life, purity of 107 

Literary Exegesis 65 

Liturgies 96, 136 

Logical Exegesis 63 

Logic, study of , 21 

Luther 41 

Macaulay 57 

Materialism 15 

Matter 16, 17 

Mathematics, study of 29, 56 



152 INDEX. 

Mediaeval Exegesis 80 

Metaphysics 21, 56 

Method 47 

Missions 98, 137 

Michael Angelo 38 

Mystic Exegesis 81 

New Testament . 124/" 

Nomenclature, theological 53 

Old Testament 12 if 

Ontology 56 

Painting, Christian 37, 58 

Pantheism 17 

Patristic Exegesis 79 

Paxton 109 

Personality 19 

Pietism 70 

Philosophy 13/*, 2 1 

Philosophy of History 21, 56 

Philology , 25, 55, 62, 116 

Physiography _ 59 

Pneumatology 89 

Polemics 91 

Poetry 40, 58 

Process of Exegesis , 63 

Prolegomenon 86, 87 

Practical Exegesis , 66 

Psychology 14, 21, 56 

Rationalism 71, 72 

Reason 14 



INDEX. 153 

Recent Exegesis 83, 84 

Reformation 82, 83 

Regeneration 106 

Revelation 18 

Religion 43 

Rhetoric 35, 57 

Sciences 31, 35 

Schelling 11 

Semler , , 71 

Sculpture, Christian 37/, 58 

Stuart, Prof. Moses 76 

Studies, Preparatory 55 

Spener 70 

Spencer 71 

Spirit .16, 17 

Spirit, reverent 108 

Spiritualistic Exegesis 74 

Sunday School 95, 135 

Supernaturalism 73 

Theological Encyclopedia 7/f, 53 

definition 7 

object # 8 

general 9 

special 9, 44 

propedeutical 9 

complementary 9 

importance io_/*, 23 

Theism 18, 103 

Theology 13/f, 42, 53 

an inductive science 14 



154 INDEX. 

divisions 43, 44 

systematic . 8, 9, 88, 91 

historical 8, 9 

practical 8, 9, 50, 91, 93, 134 

biblical 8, 50, 51, 85, 86, 92, 104, 121 

exegetical 8, 9, 48, 49, 50 

post-biblical 87/*, 92, 126 

moral 90, 133 

pastoral 95, 135 

speculative , 101 

mystic 102 

natural 103 

comparative 133 

Trumbull 95 

Universal Encyclopedia 7, 23 

Word, revealed 21 

Zinzendorf 71 




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